by Ben Goldacre
First published 2008
Media outlets flip between declaring alcohol harmful one day and beneficial the next. Dangerous drugs reach market approval before getting pulled for causing heart attacks. Average readers without medical degrees struggle to separate legitimate science from complete nonsense. Ben Goldacre tackles these problems head on by exposing fraudulent doctors, fake nutritionists, worthless certification schemes, and poorly designed research studies. He also challenges journalists who abandon facts and evidence when reporting health stories. Goldacre goes beyond simply identifying what's wrong. He teaches readers the practical skills they need to assess placebo effects, understand double blind methodology, and evaluate whether sample sizes actually support the conclusions being drawn. Armed with these tools, readers can identify bad science wherever they encounter it.
Genres: science, non-fiction, health, academic
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism
338 pages · Paperback · HarperCollins Publishers