The Geek Manifesto: Why science matters [Hardcover]

Mark Henderson has written a book which all scientists and politicians should read. From its very beginning, he catalogues time after time how politicians misunderstand and underfund basic scientific research. They misunderstand it because almost all of them have no scientific background. That they underfund it is remarkable, seeing that they bend over backwards to ease the way of entrepreneurs and investors who are only too happy to reap the benefits of this research.

There are many highlights. I mention only a few. Sarah Palin for instance, wondering why on earth biologists were funded (in modest terms) to study fruit flies. Anyone who has studied genetics at all would know that the study of variations in fruit flies underpinned that subject, but maybe Sarah doesn't believe in evolution?

There are the news program debates, where the interviewers give equal weight and hearing to solidly founded research and crank views, be it in climate science, stem cell research or alternative medicine. Time and again, a refutation of the crank views is easily to hand, but is not used, in the interests of a false sense of "balance", where the hippo and the ant are deemed to have equal weight.

We have Vince Cable telling us that much scientific research is not even worthwhile and should be cut. In this case, a concerted campaign achieved only a freezing of funding, ie, a cut in real terms. If politicians could have predicted the World Wide Web, developed as a by-product of trying to share CERN's discoveries, could they have pushed funds in the right direction? Plus, all of the modern world depends on the unassuming research of Maxwell, a Scottish scientist, trying to formulate equations to describe electromagnetism. Who would have foreseen the ramifications of that? The mathematician Hardy is famous for claiming that his research in number theory was pure, and would never find applications, yet it is now essential to encryption and security in computing.

The title of the book contains the word "Manifesto." Although it is not strictly a manifesto in the sense of a numbered list of prescriptions, it contains many indicators of when scientists need to get active, why it is essential to do so, and how to do that. There are also many case histories of campaigns that were successful, or, in the funding case, more successful than doing nothing. There are web sites, ways of spreading the message, and examples of scientists who successfully tackled poor science in the media.

I don't agree with everything in the book. The GM scare wasn't only about creating "monsters", it was also about large corporations like Monsanto selling seed that would grow crops, but would then not allow the growers to harvest fertile seeds themselves, creating a monopoly for Monsanto. Also, The Times has a supplement called Eureka that Henderson regards as good scientific reporting, whereas I, as a scientist, find that Ben Miller's column in it is the only bit worth reading.

However, overall, this is an important book, and I hope it gets a large audience. Well done, Mark!

In the Geek Manifesto, Mark Henderson provides an irrefutable argument for increased public interaction and activism from the often far too silent "geek" community. By "geek", Henderson means people with evidence-based positions and reasoning especially those in the scientific community. Henderson's manifesto is that "geeks" need to argue for the reality, lobby the government and correct false positions presented by the media to reduce the corrosive effect of dogma from public policy making. He's right.

Henderson points out that the vast majority of public policy on economics, education, the environment, health etc is set by people who aren't trained in, or are actually interested in, proper ways of collecting and evaluating evidence. Anecdote rules. What we have from far too many of our politicians (only one current MP has science training) is a credible looking pseudo-science where evidence that favours a dogmatic political opinion is carefully selected and used to support that pre-existing dogma and any evidence against is simply ignored, not matter how sound or weighty that opposing evidence was. If you dropped 9 heavy objects from a roof and one helium balloon, an "anti-gravity party" would use the helium balloon as proof that gravity doesn't exist, ignoring the 9 objects that fell rapidly to ground and all the reasoning why a helium balloon isn't a good example.

If this sounds an extreme and silly analogy, keep in mind that such reasoning has resulted in a position, highlighted by Henderson, where homeopathy for animals is considered unethical because it doesn't work and will lead to animal suffering, while our MPs have ensured that not only is homeopathy used in humans and funded by the NHS, it is uniquely protected from even needing a jot of proof of effectiveness unlike any other form of genuine medicine.

As I write, 3 MPs are lobbying the Advertising Standards Agency to change their verdict banning adverts by a fringe Christian group who claim they can produce magical cures of serious diseases including cancer. These healers use standard tricks like apparently elongating legs, a simple optical illusion magicians have used to amuse people for decades, and could, if allowed to continue, deter patients from real therapies leading to serious avoidable harm. The MPs should be made to read Henderson's excellent and vital book and be begged to reconsider.

Highly recommended.

The timing of this book couldn't really be better. In a time post 'Nutt-sacking' when politicians and those in authority increasingly claim to base their decisions on scientific evidence yet more and more blatantly ignore or, worse, misrepresent it this book is a clarion call to us all. Of course, when I say 'all' I mean us geeks and that, sadly, is the first failing of the book - by the tone it takes it cannot really help but preach to the converted.

The approach taken by Henderson almost makes me wish that there were no collective word 'science'. The insistence that this entity and its practitioners - the scientists and engineers - must be taken more seriously often feels like a cry from a minority wanting recognition for recognition's sake. That's a shame really as the point being made here IS a very important one.

What Henderson is really getting at here is that 'the scientific method' (there we go again attaching nouns) has a lot to offer the world outside of the scientific community. In it's most basic form that means helping others to understand that trying things, evaluating those attempts and learning from them is a simple principle that by definition can help us all improve things. That goes for education, business and government alike. The fact that we in the sciences and engineering have adopted that approach as second (first?) nature does not mean it is exclusively our to give to the world, but Henderson calls upon us as advocates of he approach to enlighten those to whomever the 'scientific method' was something last encountered at school if at all.

The book is littered with brilliant examples of decisions being taken without reference to the evidence, manipulation and misappropriation of evidence and blatant contempt for the sciences, but sometimes it does come across as a defence of the practice of science itself.

Many of the arguments are very well put, though, and despite my being already familiar with a lot of the examples I still found the retelling of the Professor Nutt story and the like very very frustrating. These stories need to be told. Everyone ought to know what is going on - that in a lot of cases we are being misled, lied to even, by those in authority.

If Henderson is preaching to the converted then at least he is giving us more examples and detail with which to explain what is going on to those who do not know.

This is the second book I have read this year that talks a lot about the stories behind the headlines. What frustrated me about the other book was that most of the book seemed to be pre-amble building up to a pro- anthropomorphic global warming sermon. The Geek Manifesto seemed to be heading the same way. Where scepticism and questioning the conclusions drawn from evidence is championed for everything else we are almost asked to just accept that AGW is real and that everyone who counts agrees. In fact Henderson gives away his bias by complaining that the pro-AGW were referred to as 'warmists' while consistently referring to those who question the evidence as 'denialists' and even 'contrarians' - hardly demonstrating balance there!

That said, Henderson actually goes on to present those most balanced discussion of climate change that I have read in a long time. He quite obviously believes we are all to blame, but does question and criticise the alarmist approach taken by many which he believes has only sereved to help the 'denialists' by providing fuel for their arguments. The fact that this is essentially the last topic covered but is mentioned repeatedly referred to throughout the book does, however, give the impression again that this was he topic Henderson really wanted to get to.

The closing section of the book where the author sets out an action plan for us all reads as though it should have a fanfare building throughout it. If you agree with anything in this book you are likely to feel your chest puffing up as you red this. You'll want to go right out and harass an M.P. or phone the news desk at the Daily Mail immediately.

This is a very important topic. By adopting the same approach as those in the sciences do every day, almost everyone could benefit. Henderson arms us well with his stories here, I just hope that if non-scientists/engineers read this they don't go away with the wrong idea. This is not a fight for the recognition of scientists and engineers - this is simply an offer being made. Here is an approach to problem solving and development that has served the sciences and engineering very well - we'd be very happy to explain how (and why) it works and how it could work for you.

In The Geek Manifesto Henderson gives the best explanation and examples of this yet. Read it, and go out and help make the world a better place.