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Bad Science
 
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Bad Science (Paperback)

by Ben Goldacre (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (233 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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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 (233 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 46 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #1 in  Books > Science & Nature > Popular Science

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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

233 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (233 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
391 of 422 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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163 of 184 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.
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116 of 139 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A fabulous book! , 11 Sep 2008
By Jane Smith (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Bad Science (Paperback)
I bought this book just four days ago, and have finished it already. It's a compelling, fast-paced read which presents all sorts of science--good and bad--in a clear, understandable way and which made me laugh out loud in places (not all of them appropriate).

I love it, my 13-year-old son is enjoying it, and I'm sure that my mother will like it too.

Overall a fantastic, readable, beautifully-researched and presented sciencey book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Good content, not so good tone
I *REALLY* enjoyed the placebo section of this book. However, the parts detailing (in not so much detail funnily enough) weren't that interesting. Read more
Published 3 days ago by CeeBee

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Score
Excellently written book. Completely blows the cover of fake, media endorsed medical surveys. Everyone should read this book. You will become the arch sceptic.
Published 3 days ago by Jayne Riddick

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic enlightening read
This book is a must for anyone skeptical about alternative medicine, and for those of us who fail to see the point of such 'experts' as 'Dr' Gillian McKeith. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Jack Barnard

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading- don't let the ego put you off.
The intro to this book ends with Goldacre modestly saying `If by the end [of this book] you reckon you might still disagree with me, you'll still be wrong, but you'll be wrong... Read more
Published 5 days ago by Jasper Tamespeke

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, interesting, enlightening, unbiased.
A great introduction to the principles of science and how the modern media, cosmetic industries, alternative medical industry and traditional medical industries manipulate and... Read more
Published 6 days ago by Seaguller

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, opens up the can to show the worms inside
This is a really great book and should be required reading for every politician and anyone concerned with formulating public policy. Read more
Published 7 days ago by A. R. V. Riding

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book
Let me say at the start that I am a 'lay' person and have no scientific qualifications,excluding 'O' levels 30 years ago. Read more
Published 7 days ago by S. Ross

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent and timely book
Bad Science is an important book. Ben Goldacre, a doctor, journalist and originator of the Bad Science blog presents us with an interesting, worrying and sometimes amusing... Read more
Published 9 days ago by Matthew Culley

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be on the school curriculum...
This is an excellent book. It's clearly and amusingly written and the style brings a lot of potentially dry subject matter bursting into life. Read more
Published 12 days ago by G. Hay

5.0 out of 5 stars Bad science? Maybe. Fantastic book? Definitely.
Mr Goldacre has given us a brilliant, well-written book. It's hugely informative (and entertaining) & a must-read for everyone (especially journalists, who insist on writing... Read more
Published 14 days ago by Maria T.

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