Library:Bad Science
| Bad Science | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ben Goldacre |
| First published | 2008 |
| ISBN | 978-0-00-724019-7 |
| Role | Analysis |
| Domains | Health & Medicine |
| Tactics | Pseudoscience / Junk Science Statistical & Evidentiary Distortion |
Bad Science is a 2008 book by Ben Goldacre.
Summary
Ben Goldacre, a British physician and epidemiologist, grew this book out of his long-running Guardian column of the same name. It is a sharp, funny and rigorous takedown of the ways the public is misled about health, aimed at quacks, at credulous journalists and at the poor statistical habits that let both thrive.
Teaching the method through the nonsense
The book's strategy is to use absurd examples to teach real scientific reasoning. Goldacre starts with simple cases, such as detox foot baths that turn the water brown whether or not feet are in them and educational exercise programmes built on invented neuroscience, and uses them to explain controls, blinding and the basics of a fair test. By the time he reaches harder subjects, the reader has the tools to follow.
Homeopathy and the placebo
A central chapter examines homeopathy, explaining why its remedies are diluted to the point of containing no active substance and why trials nonetheless sometimes appear to show benefit. That leads to a long and fascinating treatment of the placebo effect itself, which Goldacre treats as real and interesting rather than as a dismissal.
The nutrition industry
Goldacre goes after celebrity nutritionists and supplement sellers who make confident claims from weak or misread evidence. He devotes particular attention to a vitamin entrepreneur who promoted vitamins over antiretroviral drugs for AIDS in South Africa, a case he presents as showing how health misinformation can contribute to deaths on a large scale. That chapter was published after a libel action against the Guardian was dropped.
The media's role
The final chapters turn to journalism: how health stories are generated from press releases, how relative risks are reported without absolute risks, and how coverage of the MMR vaccine scare amplified a discredited claim about autism, contributing to falling vaccination rates.
Relevance to Bullshitopedia
The book is a model of the tone the site should aim for: precise, accessible and willing to name names when the evidence supports it. It anchors the Health & Medicine domain and the Pseudoscience / Junk Science tactic. Its sequel, Bad Pharma, turns the same scrutiny on mainstream medicine.