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Bad Science (Paperback)

by Ben Goldacre (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (141 customer reviews)

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Paperback £8.99 £4.85 26 used & new from £2.87

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Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Fourth Estate Ltd (1 Sep 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007240198
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007240197
  • Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 13.4 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (141 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 8,825 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review
'If you pick up 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.'


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Customer Reviews

141 Reviews
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 (110)
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 (18)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (5)
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (141 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
247 of 259 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly excellent, 7 Oct 2008
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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125 of 138 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)   
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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101 of 118 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Collected Blogs, 2 Sep 2008
From previews on website Bad science, this is an essential read for those fed up of being told nonsense by the media about everything from health scares to cures for cancer.
Give it to your Daily Mail reading mother and vitamin pill popping sister for an early xmas present.
Amusing, and an easy read but a serious message.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Do not buy from this supplier
This book has never arrived. I contacted the seller and got no response. This seller has consistently had extremely negative feedback and should be removed from Amazon.
Published 2 days ago by Marianne Paul

4.0 out of 5 stars a page turner
This book makes you want to read it to find out if any of the things you thought were O.K. are actually not scientific, and could be rubbish. But then we only have his opinion. Read more
Published 3 days ago by S. A. Giles

4.0 out of 5 stars Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
A fascinating book and impressively well researched. Ben Goldacre's energy has to be admired. His chapter on Bad Stats is especially helpful for those who find the concepts... Read more
Published 4 days ago by Dr. Michael Blackmore

4.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable read for most Brits
I won't repeat all the praise given in other reviews. It's definitely an interesting book to read.

I am not British and do not live in the UK, so I was unaware of... Read more
Published 8 days ago by Demarion

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be mandatory reading
Ben Goldacre can be excused for his tone of crusade -the book makes a great standing against superficial analysis and misleading reporting. Read more
Published 9 days ago by Adriana Reis Menezes

3.0 out of 5 stars More message less Mr Goldacre
The second-to-none important message in this book: "Enlightenment is the best thing that ever has happend to mankind" is delivered in a fragile vessel - a column writing witty... Read more
Published 14 days ago by Mermaid on the Dolphin's Back

5.0 out of 5 stars Clarse book
Brilliant book - buy it & read it now (and then start reading his weekly "Bad Science" column in the Guardian or, if you prefer, his blog of the same name). Read more
Published 15 days ago by A. Jones

4.0 out of 5 stars Different perspective
I found Ben Goldacre's book Bad Science was a good antidote to the media hype surrounding medical science and alternative therapies. Read more
Published 20 days ago by J. Botwright

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
I really enjoyed this book and cannot recommend it highly enough.
Perhaps we are entering an age of facts and objectivity where products and services will be judged on real... Read more
Published 21 days ago by T.O.R. Caza

5.0 out of 5 stars Like turning on a lightbulb; suddenly everything is clear.
If you're a smart guy (or girl) who has always wondered, or an everyday layperson who never gave it a passing thought, this book manages to shed light on the subject of who to... Read more
Published 26 days ago by Mr. J. Hewett

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