Interesting book: Bad Science

 

I recently bought and read a very interesting book written by Dr.Ben Goldacre entitled: “Bad Science” from FSC+HarperCollins (you can buy it on Amazon).

Dr. Goldacre is a doctor working in the NHS in London with a passion for writing. He has won numerous awards, including “Best Freelancer” at the Medical Journalists Awards 2006, the Healthwatch Award in 2006, “Best Feature” at the British Science Writers Awards twice, for 2003 and 2005, and the Royal Statistical Society’s first Award For Statistical Excellence in Journalism.

In this book, Ben dismantles a lot of dodgy science and a lot of dodgy “experts” with mail order degrees. As Sir Ian Chalmers (founder of the Cochrane Library) states in the cover: “Bad Science introduces the basic scientific principles to help everyone to become a more effective bullshit detector”.

Ben also writes an excellent blog which I suggest you to visit as his articles are really well written and give you some incredible insights on a lot of examples of bad science. Finally, you can also download the podcasts of Bad Science. Believe me, they can be a good companion to your travels.