or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
35 used & new from £2.15
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Bad Science
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Bad Science (Paperback)

by Ben Goldacre (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (205 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
Price: £3.57 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £5.42 (60%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, November 24? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
28 new from £2.15 7 used from £3.38
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Paperback (4th Printing) 14 used & new from £3.28

Watch a Related Video
11:24

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Frequently Bought Together

Bad Science + Quirkology: The Curious Science Of Everyday Lives + Irrationality
Price For All Three: £14.30

Show availability and delivery details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Irrationality

Irrationality

by Stuart Sutherland
4.3 out of 5 stars (33)  £5.97
Quirkology: The Curious Science Of Everyday Lives

Quirkology: The Curious Science Of Everyday Lives

by Prof. Richard Wiseman
4.3 out of 5 stars (39)  £4.76
Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities

Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities

by Ian Stewart
4.0 out of 5 stars (15)  £6.08
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

by Richard Dawkins
4.5 out of 5 stars (88)  £9.96
13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Intriguing Scientific Mysteries of Our Time

13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Intriguing Scientific Mysteries of Our Time

by Michael Brooks
4.1 out of 5 stars (21)  £6.46
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: HarperPerennial (2 April 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 000728487X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007284870
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (205 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 41 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #1 in  Books > Science & Nature > Popular Science

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

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 alternate Paperback edition.
See all Product Description

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(26)
(23)
(20)
(19)
(19)
(14)
(13)
(8)
(7)
(3)
(3)
See all 42 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Bad Science
93% buy the item featured on this page:
Bad Science 4.5 out of 5 stars (205)
£3.57
Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities
3% buy
Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities 4.0 out of 5 stars (15)
£6.08
Irrationality
2% buy
Irrationality 4.3 out of 5 stars (33)
£5.97
My Shit Life So Far
2% buy
My Shit Life So Far 4.3 out of 5 stars (18)
£8.99
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

205 Reviews
5 star:
 (151)
4 star:
 (26)
3 star:
 (9)
2 star:
 (9)
1 star:
 (10)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (205 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
357 of 377 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.
Comment Comments (18) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
152 of 168 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable, 15 Sep 2008
By R. de Vries "half_arsed" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Bad Science (Paperback)
Like the very best popular science, this book is patient but fascinating in building up your knowledge of the subject area - in this case medical (and 'alternative' medical) research. However, it goes beyond this in building up to a damning indictment of the media's handling of the MRSA and MMR scares, as part of their wider crimes against the public understanding of science.

In the hands of a polemecist such as Micheal Moore, these frauds perpetrated against the public would be described at a pitch of white hot rage (lkely with almost EVERY WORD IN CAPS). However Dr Goldacre describes the frankly horrifying details of these scares in patient and methodical detail, and is all the more compelling for it.

This book is compulsory reading. It should be forcefully inserted onto every reading list prepared by anyone, for anything.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
40 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars a funny book with two important messages, 2 Aug 2009
By John Speakman (Scotland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Ben Goldacre is a rare animal. He is a journalist who writes a column in the guardian but is also a full time GP working for the NHS. Apart from that he is young, smug, arrogant, has an ego the size of a planet and a writing style that is often condescending and patronising. Yet he is also witty, insightful and smart and has a turn of phrase that separates him as a great writer. Some of his more memorable quotes will stay with you and make you smile for a long time. Looking at the balance of positive and negative reviews here, there is about a 98% chance (118 five star reviews against 3 one star reviews) that like me you will find this book impossible to put down. On one occasion I read long into the night, forced myself about 3am to go to sleep and then when the alarm went off picked up the book and started where I had left off.

Despite its title however this is actually not a book about bad science. There is no botched physics, chemistry or biology in here. There are two main themes that run through the book. The first is an expose of pseudoscience - detox, vitamin supplements, homeopathy and the like. This includes some very cutting examinations of various charlatans who advocate these approaches. These things are very easy targets, but as they are not generally regarded as science in the first place, calling them `bad science' gives them an air of authority they don't deserve. The only science in the book in this context is the good evidence based medicine used very frequently by Goldacre to debunk the pseudoscientific rubbish. This is great stuff presented with true style. Of course you may be thinking that really these things don't matter. If somebody wants to spend £50 on a pointless course of vitamin C pills every year then it is up to them, and we can have a good laugh at their expense and everyone goes home happy. What Goldacre nicely reveals is that there is a much wider dimension to the problem. When people in the vitamin industry (who have grown rich on the `harmless' whims of westerners buying their daily doses of antioxidants) persuade governments in the developing world that the cure for AIDS is not anti-virals but vitamin supplements then thousands of people die as a result. Suddenly it isn't amusing or harmless any more.
If this first theme wasn't important enough, the second theme of the book is even more significant and that is the appalling standard of science reporting in the media. Goldacre blames this on the very poor level of science training among generalist reporters and editors. He suggests that because of this science stories in the mainstream media are always portrayed as breakthroughs, miracle cures or scare stories, instead of a detailed examination of their true complexity and importance. Science stories are often misrepresented, dumbed down and pitched at people with the intelligence of six year olds. This contrasts bleakly with coverage of say the financial news or literary examinations. Goldacre's coverage here is also not about bad science. It is how good science becomes badly mangled by the media machine. Even worse is when the media try to do their own science. His points are well made and arguments compelling. The concluding chapters on the MMR vaccine and MRSA superbug scares are well laid out examinations of the key issues.

Overall this is not just a great read but an important book. I'm glad it has made the Amazon top ten and the Sunday times bestsellers lists because lots of people need to be exposed to the messages it contains. My only concern is that most of the people buying it will be those already in the know - people like (in his words) doctors who have bought the book for a good laugh at homeopathy. If you are in this group then you should definitely buy it. If you are not, then buying it is even more important.
Comment Comments (3) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Addictive
This book is absolutely brilliant and I would recommend it to anybody even those with no scientific interests. Read more
Published 7 days ago by S. Anandarajah

5.0 out of 5 stars SUCH a good book
As an arts-grad journalist who often writes about medical matters, this book really made me squirm. Sadly, everything Goldacre says is true: the media do not know what they're... Read more
Published 10 days ago by SecondCherry

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading
This was a really great, unputdownable read without being great literature in any way. As a scientist myself, I was aware of the arguments, but had never realised how they needed... Read more
Published 12 days ago by PJD Lloyd

4.0 out of 5 stars Bad Media = Bad Science
Great book, once you get past the first chapter, it really grips you and it is a real page-turner.

It can't be stressed enough that the majority of the science you... Read more
Published 16 days ago by Cork Boi

4.0 out of 5 stars Bad Science
This book is an absolute MUST READ!!

You may not (and probably won't) agree with a lot of the issues the author brings up, but it will definitely provoke some... Read more
Published 21 days ago by Jerusha Black

1.0 out of 5 stars problem
my book bad science was deliever on time despite the postal strike my only problem is the cover of the book is inside out! someone must of noticed that when packing the book. Read more
Published 24 days ago by annon

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't mind the hypocrisy
As an overweight, diabetic with Hashimoto's disease, chronic pain and bronchiectasis - who has grasped at more straws than you can shake a stick at - I regard this book as one... Read more
Published 26 days ago by Mr. M. R. MOORE

4.0 out of 5 stars The truth hurts sometimes
It was brave of Mr Goldacre not only to expose the charlatans that flog potions pills and miracle cures but also show the tactics used by mainstream pharmaceutical companies to... Read more
Published 27 days ago by C. Marshall

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone who reads the daily mail should be forced to read this book
...and everyone else too while i'm at it.

I've had nagging doubts about media reporting of science for some time but ben goldacre has now opened my eyes to this... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jason M. Webber

4.0 out of 5 stars 80% of people reading this review will like this book
An accurate description of how the wool can be pulled over our eyes by a combination of misunderstandings in the media, and from the "interesting" approach to science used by... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Russell G. Pottinger

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
Finally! Who are your favorites in a similar style? 8 26 days ago
64 less pages? 1 April 2009
› See all 2 discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 

   

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject





i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.