In Bad Science, Ben Goldacre explains how and why we are led to believe fallacies about issues as diverse as vitamin supplememts, homeopathy, the MMR debate, AIDs vaccines in Africa and cosmetics.
Goldacre explains the fallacies behind many of the spurious claims made in support of many health or beauty related prducts or against various vaccines in sufficient detail to enable a lay person (like myself) to understand the ways in which members of the public are mislead (either deliberately or accidentally) using poor or simply bogus assertions of scientific validity.
While many of the issues raised were not exactly news (I have yet to meet a single person who believes that homeopathy is anything other than unmitigated rubbish), the most damning indictment is given to the journalists who would appear to me more devoted to generating scary headlines than reporting the truth.
Excellent. Thisbook is one to keep and revisit from time to time.
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