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Bad Science [Paperback]

Ben Goldacre (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (297 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial (2 April 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 000728487X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007284870
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (297 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #9 in  Books > Science & Nature > Popular Science
    #1 in  Books > Science & Nature > Mathematics > Popular Maths

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More About the Author

Ben Goldacre
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Product Description

Review

'From an expert with a mail-order PhD to debunking the myths of homeopathy, Ben Goldacre talking the reader through some notable cases and shows how to you don't need a science degree to spot "bad science" yourself.' Independent (Book of the Year)

'His book aims to teach us better, in the hope that one day we write less nonsense.' Daily Telegraph (Book of the Year)

'For sheer savagery, the illusion-destroying, joyous attack on the self-regarding, know-nothing orthodoxies of the modern middle classes, "Bad Science" can not be beaten. You'll laugh your head off, then throw all those expensive health foods in the bin.'
Trevor Philips, Observer (Book of the Year)

'Unmissable! Laying about himself in a froth of entirely justified indignation, Goldacre slams the mountebanks and bullshitters who misuse science. Few escape: drug companies, self-styled nutritionists, deluded researchers and journalists all get thoroughly duffed up. It is enormously enjoyable.' The Times (Book of the Year)

'Thousands of books are enjoyable; many are enlightening; only a very few will ever rate as necessary to social health. This is one of them.' Independent

'It is an important book and if you were to pick up just one non-fiction book this year you'd do well to make it this one'
Benjamin Beasley-Murray, Daily Mail

'Goldacre's prose always reads well' TES

'Duck the health quacks with a brilliant new book that debunks medical nonsense.' Metro

'The book's light-hearted tone is a help to the reader nervous of science and statistics!This is a fundamentally good book.'
Druin Burch, TLS

'The most important book you'll read this year, and quite possibly the funniest.' Charlie Brooker

'One of the essential reads of the year so far.' New Scientist

'There aren't many out and out good eggs in British journalism but Ben Goldacre is one of them! Fight back. You could start by reading this book.'
Telegraph

'[A] hugely entertaining book!This isn't just an essential primer for anyone who has ever felt uneasy about news coverish of faddish scientific "breakthroughs", health scares and "studies have shown" stories -- it should be on the National Curriculum.'
Time Out

'A fine lesson in how to skewer the enemies of reason and the peddlers of cant and half-truths.'
Economist

'"Bad Science" introduces the basic scientific principles to help everyone to become an effective bullshit detector.'
Sir Iain Chalmers, Founder of the Cochrane Library

'This book reawakened my love of science.' BBC Focus (Peer Review)

'Read this book.' Sunday Business Post

'It is an important book and if you were to pick up just one non-fiction book this year, you'd do well to make it this one.' Daily Mail

Review

`It is an important book and if you were to pick up just one non-fiction book this year you'd do well to make it this one.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews

297 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (297 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly informative and most entertaining - a must for science enthusiasts, 20 Mar 2010
By Ms. R. L. A. Amelan "Rachel" (Wilmslow, Cheshire) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Bad Science (Paperback)
I have been towing this book around with me for some weeks reading a chapter here and there. Sitting in cafes and other public venues, I have frightened passers-by with my screams of laughter at Goldacre's entertaining prose which can make some fairly dry topics not only accessible but downright funny.

I feel that I have a genuine reason for reviewing this book because I am a nurse working in clinical audit and know only too well how easy it is to manipulate statistics to mean exactly what you want. I have thus recommended this to more than one doctor about to embark on audit as a useful insight into the subject.

Frankly, I learned loads from this volume, which actually frightens me because I thought that I had a passing grasp of the power of stats. As a result, I now treat the information that comes up on my pivot tables and graphs with a new respect and query it much more closely.

My favorite part of the book has to be about Goldacre's handling of Gillian McKeith, the food guru (or whatever she is). His handling of her lack of bioscientific knowledge was excellent and made me smile. What I particularly liked was his correct explanations of the science behind the facts. There is something very elegant and beautiful about true science and he brought this out to perfection. He is clearly a great enthusiast and, at the end of the book, he recommends people to adopt a greater spirit of enquiry into the subject. Go for it!

Initially, I, like many, had thought that Mr. Goldacre would just debunk alternative therapies but I was in for a surprise. His comments on mainstream scientific research were illuminating and I must say that I had not realised that responsible minds could skew things this much - through both good intention and mendacity. His chapters relating to the media were also illuminating and, yes, journalists do get things wrong!

Anyway, my recommendation is that you buy this book - not only for yourself but also for your children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends etc.
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445 of 481 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly excellent, 7 Oct 2008
This review is from: Bad Science (Paperback)
A thoroughly excellent book from a practising doctor and medical researcher, who is also one of the few science journalists to actually understand scientific method. He is nearly a lone voice in the media, exposing the astonishing journey of 'health news' from the pages of academic journals to the tabloids and broadsheets, without passing through a critical brain in between. Thus, on a daily basis, the papers produce "X CAUSES/CURES CANCER" stories, based on very shaky understanding of experiments done in a petri dish. Whilst these stories may give false hope or fear to thousands of people, which is bad enough, in the case of MMR, they actually caused harm. He also explains how and why science fails to explain itself clearly and loudly in the face of emotionally charged 'my son has autism due to MMR' stories.

Goldacre also lays bare the facts about such 'complementary' therapies such as Homeopathy and Nutritionism, which when stripped of the accolades given them in the media, are revealed to be little more than eccentric ideas which somehow have gained unquestioning credence in the popular mind, and even, perversely, created a deep-rooted suspicion of maninstream medicine which is now taken at face value.

I thoroughly recommend this book, especially for journalists, but it is also essential reading for scientists, doctors and anyone who finds their mouth flapping when trying to put their friends / family straight on why spending 100 quid on dipping their feet in water and watching it go brown is a spectacular waste of money.

Final thoughts - if this book demonstrates how bad science reporting is, what else is being reported badly that we should know about? Finance? Politics? Help!! Also, why is there no organisation with teeth that can bring people to account for irresponsible reporting? A free press is central to our world of course, but not a wild press, trampling all over everyone and everything without so much as a backward glance.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Primer In Evaluating Evidence, 5 May 2010
This review is from: Bad Science (Paperback)
Next time you are in the London Science Museum, ask why it is that evidence-based medicine, "the ultimate applied science, [containing] some of the cleverest ideas from the past two centuries, [having] saved millions of lives ... has never had a single exhibit on the subject in the London's Science Museum". This is the thought that occurred to me when this fact was pointed out in Ben Goldacre's book. This glaring fact is a good example of the limited exposure even educated people get to the subject of evaluating evidence for scientific claims and to the more general subject of thinking scientifically.

It is hard to think of the kind of reader who would not benefit from this book. Ben Goldacre is a doctor-journalist-broadcaster who writes the "Bad Science" column in the Guardian newspaper. His goal in both that column and this book is to help people separate scientific wheat from pseudoscientific chaff. Although he spends considerable time going through a myriad of ideas himself, what is most beneficial in this book is that he supplies the reader the tools to think scientifically so that by the time you finish this book, you also should be analyse claims critically for yourself.

The ideas Goldacre tackles head-on include the "foolishness of quacks..., the credence they are given in the mainstream media, the tricks of the £30 billion food supplements industry, the evils of the £300 billion pharmaceuticals industry... [and] the tragedy of science reporting..." At times, this list can seem a little idiosyncratic and his arguments can turn into rants. Generally, though, he is aware of this himself. This flaw, if one can call it that, is easily forgivable as one begins to realize the level of sheer nonsense that markets itself as science. A neat example is the whole field of nutrition where - did you know? - anyone can legally call themselves a nutritionist, this in itself accounting for the deluge of contradictory advice given to the public by these so-called "experts". The last chapter, "The Media's MMR Hoax" should put that whole issue to rest as it reveals how the "controversy" existed purely in the media and not in the science.

A chapter or two are devoted to explaining the cognitive illusions psychologists have discovered that explain why even the smartest of us can see patterns where there really are none. Related to this are misuses of statistics that are sometimes unintentional but which again give the impression of a positive result when really there is no difference from chance. Knowing these things can help us to be on the guard against them when we are confronted with interesting or extraordinary claims.

The parts of the book dealing with statistics and the methodology of experiments are terrific: Goldacre covers simply and clearly both why these things are important and how to understand them. It is the kind of essential information often missing from books that attempt to combat pseudoscience. Concepts covered include how to conduct a scientific trial (the need for randomization, blinding and control), relative risk versus absolute risk, sensitivity, specificity, predictive value and more. Indeed, I wish he had gone into it in more depth. I guess I'll have to follow up this section with "How to Read a Paper" by Professor Greenalgh (Goldacre's recommendation).

This is a book which is incredibly useful for everyone but truly essential reading for anyone who communicates scientific and/or health related information.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone should read this book
Whether you're a doctor or whatever, if you ever look at the news you should read this book. It's changed the way I look at the world, read the news much more sceptically, and can... Read more
Published 3 days ago by John Keats

1.0 out of 5 stars Bad Book. Bad Author. Good Snooze. Zzzzz...
The biggest pile of tosh and the most idiotic, boring and stupidly written 36 pages I have read this year! Read more
Published 3 days ago by tilti

5.0 out of 5 stars Science Literacy
The weekly Bad Science colum in the Gardian newpaper have become my essential read for the week. In this book Ben Goldacre goes further to expand on some his best articles. Read more
Published 9 days ago by Robert Williams

3.0 out of 5 stars Okay considering the hype
I initially saw the glowing reviews and couldn't wait to buy this book. Yes I did learn a lot about medicine, media and scientific papers, not to mention Gillian McKeith... Read more
Published 10 days ago by tokyo24

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read for anyone (perhaps even EVERYONE?)
This is without a doubt the best book i read last year! Medicine is becoming more and more an area of public interest, and rightly so! Read more
Published 13 days ago by JXL

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book wrong title
This is an excellent book. Really opens your eyes to how people and the media use science to justify what they want to do. Read more
Published 13 days ago by David

5.0 out of 5 stars A Victory For Common Sense
If you too despair at the reporting of science & medicine particularly on TV, but even on occasions in broadsheet newspapers, then this is the book for you. Read more
Published 16 days ago by FAC191

5.0 out of 5 stars Bad science - Good book
Bad science is at its heart very simple. Ben tells us the way science should be done (and should be reported) and then shows us how it can be done (and is reported) and the... Read more
Published 16 days ago by Robin L. Stacpoole

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful read, packed with useful information, and oh, so true!
This is a good read as well as being hugely important to all who take an interest in life. Ben Goldacre is both a journalist (regular column in The Guardian) and an NHS Medic... Read more
Published 19 days ago by Big Ben

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Debunks all the people who wilfully misrepresent their products to con the public into buying them and the newspapers and other media who use scare stories to promote their media.
Published 21 days ago by dim

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