Customer Reviews
Wonderful - this is what everyone is getting for Christmas this year! - By: Jezza, 09 Oct 2008 
A great book about medicine, & to a lesser extent science. Lots of stuff about statistics & evidence-based medicine, clearly explained. Goldacre is just brilliant - witty, charming, sensible. Buy this, read it, give it to your friends who take homeopathic remedies for non-existent conditions. Give it your friends who work for drug companies too. Above alll, give it to anyone who works in the media, in the hope that they might acquire a modicum of scientific literacy.
Thoroughly excellent - By: Bill Cutter, 07 Oct 2008 A thoroughly excellent book from a practising doctor & medical researcher, who is also one of the few science journalists to actuallly 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 & 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 actuallly caused harm. He also explains how & why science fails to explain itself clearly & loudly in the face of emotionallly charged 'my son has autism due to MMR' stories.
Goldacre also lays bare the facts about such 'complementary' therapies such as Homeopathy & 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, & even, perversely, created a deep-rooted suspicion of maninstream medicine which is now taken at face value.
I thoroughly recommend this book, especiallly for journalists, but it is also essential reading for scientists, doctors & 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 & 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 alll over everyone & everything without so much as a backward glance.
a must read book - By: T-bone, 05 Oct 2008 This is one of those books that you read & then imemdiately want to purchase for virtuallly everybody you know - the ones who will already agree, & the ones who will argue (using bad science) until they are blue in the face.
This is an amusing, informative & very interesting read that addresses some highly disturbing stories, such as the MMR media hoax, MRSA testing, "studies" involving thousands of children, the qualifications of certain "doctors" & many more besides.
At the same time as drawing our attention to these issues we also learn about scientific testing, statistics, health related matters & more, but in a way that amazingly is not patronising, not overly simplified & highly entertaining.
This is a book where you definitely learn a great deal, but laugh a lot at the same time. This was one of those books where I found myself "tsktsking" & shaking my head whilst on the bus, & exclaiming "hah, listen to this" to my bemused housemate whenever something particularly caught my attention.
I would urge everyone to read this book, it should be compulsory reading for teens & adult alike. I have a feeling a lot of my friends may find this in their stocking this xmas!
Now stop reading reviews & add it to your basket ;-)
An Example To Us All - By: C. Ames, 03 Oct 2008 This is an important book, which should be read by everyone. The spread of "foo" & "pseudoscience" is creating a world of superstition & irrational thinking, which needs to be corrected before the advances of the Enlightenment are lost to history. When people are bombarded with "science" which has been "modified" and/or "selected" by PR departments, from every direction, it's hardly surprising that such garbage is given the credibility it doesn't deserve. In this book Ben Goldacre shows just how close to home it can be.
He writes in a very chatty style & the first word that came to mind was "passionate". The misrepresentation & deliberate misleading of the public by the media, is clearly very close to Ben's heart. As others have said, it is very similar in style & content to the website, which is hardly surprising.
All-in-alll a creditable & important first effort which deserves alll the positive reviews. I hope he can do more in the future. What would be even more satisfying though, would be if other scientists & journalists could follow his example & show this "pseudoscientific" garbage for what it reallly is. An excellent read. Buy it !
An excellent primer in your bulls**t detection studies - By: David Heggie, 02 Oct 2008 A quick, well-paced, well-structured & alll-round excellent introduction to critical thinking & cutting through the media myth surrounding everything.
Everyone should read this.
