Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks

Ben Goldacre

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Oct 12, 2010 - Science - 304 pages

Have you ever wondered how one day the media can assert that alcohol is bad for us and the next unashamedly run a story touting the benefits of daily alcohol consumption? Or how a drug that is pulled off the market for causing heart attacks ever got approved in the first place? How can average readers, who aren't medical doctors or Ph.D.s in biochemistry, tell what they should be paying attention to and what's, well, just more bullshit?

Ben Goldacre has made a point of exposing quack doctors and nutritionists, bogus credentialing programs, and biased scientific studies. He has also taken the media to task for its willingness to throw facts and proof out the window. But he's not here just to tell you what's wrong. Goldacre is here to teach you how to evaluate placebo effects, double-blind studies, and sample sizes, so that you can recognize bad science when you see it. You're about to feel a whole lot better.

About the author

Ben Goldacre is a writer, broadcaster, and doctor best known for the Bad Science column in The Guardian. Trained in Oxford and London, with brief forays into academia, Goldacre works full-time for the National Health Service.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks
• Author: Ben Goldacre
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010
• ISBN: 1429967099, 9781429967099
• Length: 304 pages
• Subjects: Health & Fitness / Health Care Issues; Science / Essays; Science / Ethics