| Description |
xiii, 338 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm |
|
regular print |
| Contents |
Introduction -- 1. Matter -- 2. Brain gym -- 3. The progenium XY complex -- 4. Homeopathy -- 5. The Placebo effect -- 6. The nonsense du Jour -- 7. Dr Gillian McKeith, PhD -- 8. 'Pill solves complex social problem' -- 9. Professor Patrick Holdford -- 10. Is mainstream medicine evil? -- 11. How the media promote the public misunderstanding of science -- 12. Why clever people believe stupid things -- 13. Bad stats -- 14. Health scares -- 15. The media's MMR hoax -- And another thing -- Further reading and acknowledgements -- Notes |
| Summary |
"How do we know if a treatment works, or if something causes cancer? Can the claims of homeopaths ever be as true ? or as interesting as the improbable research into the placebo effect? Who created the MMR hoax? Do journalists understand science? Why do we seek scientific explanations for social, personal and political problems? Are alternative therapists and the pharmaceutical companies really so different, or do they just use the same old tricks to sell different types of pill? We are obsessed with our health. And yet ? from the media?s ?world-expert microbiologist? with a mail-order PhD in his garden shed laboratory, via multiple health scares and miracle cures, to the million pound trial that Durham Council now denies ever existed ? we are constantly bombarded with inaccurate, contradictory and sometimes even misleading information. Until now. Ben Goldacre masterfully dismantles the dodgy science behind some of the great drug trials, court cases and missed opportunities of our time, but he also goes further: out of the bulls---, he shows us the fascinating story of how we know what we know, and gives us the tools to uncover bad science for ourselves." - product description |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 325-338) |
| Subject |
Science -- Popular works.
|
|
Errors, Scientific -- Popular works.
|
| ISBN |
9780007240197 (paperback) |
|
0007240198 (paperback) |
|
