Ben Goldacre writes an incredibly intelligent and accessible deconstruction of homeopathy, nutrionism, and big pharma, and how they all abuse science and play on people’s hopes and fears with only one real goal – money.

Goldacre doesn’t actually cover the money angle too much, though, as that is incidental to the more insidious aspects of this ‘bad science’. The twisting of facts, hiding of methods, and bald-faced lying in reporting is making people distrustful of any science, and is ultimately causing deaths (I read with open-mouthed amazement at the stupidity of the South African authorities who listened to nutrionists advocating vitamin C instead of the anti-retro virals backed up by large-scale trial-based evidence).

Ultimately, Goldacre’s goal is make the general public aware of how science should be conducted, and how scientific evidence should be presented – and if methods are hidden, or references obscured, then this should all be a big red flag to warn you off.

Its a shame, then, that this book will likely be dismissed by that same general public as they want to believe in the miracle pill that will never come.

Original Review: http://www.librarything.com/work/5024010/reviews/51235639

Ben Goldacre also writes a column for the Guardian, covering these kinds of topics. The columns and discussions on them are available at http://www.badscience.net/