Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks

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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.

 

Contents

Matter
Brain Gym 3 The Progenium XY Complex
Homeopathy
The Placebo Effect
The Nonsense du Jour
Nutritionists
The Doctor Will Sue You
Is Mainstream Medicine Evil?
Why Clever People Believe Stupid Things
Bad Stats
The Medias MMR Hoax
And Another Thing
Notes
Further Reading and Acknowledgments
Index
Copyright

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About the author (2010)

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.

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