Bad Science - Ben Goldacre

Feelgood

Hey folks,

Just wondering if any of ye have had the chance to read Ben Goldacre's, Bad Science (www.badscience.net) and what your thoughts are on it?.

Info:
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.

Authour:
Ben Goldacre is a writer, broadcaster and medical doctor from the UK who is best known for his "Bad Science" column in the Guardian newspaper, examining the claims of scaremongering journalists, quack health products, pseudoscientific cosmetics adverts, and evil multinational pharmaceutical corporations, as well as wider themes such as the medicalisation of everyday life and the psychology of irrational beliefs. He has a background in medicine and academia, trained in Oxford and London, works full time for the NHS, appears regularly on radio and TV, and has written for publications as diverse as Time Out, the British Medical Journal, New Statesman and The Lancet, as well as writing and presenting "The Rise Of The Lifestyle Nutritionists" and "The Power of Placebo" in 2008 on BBC Radio 4

I have to say its probably one of the best books I have read in a very long time and an extreme eye opener. Just wondering if there is anyone in the boards community that work in nurtitional or alternative medicine fields that
have read it and have anything to comment on it?.

AtomicHorror

Not in either field but I'm a biology PhD. student. Liked the book a lot, though at times I felt he was overstating some points and not giving some of the more complex concepts their due coverage. Overall I'd consider it essential reading for anyone who dabbles in CAM. I imagine the real advocates will either dismiss the book or crazylogic their way around the points it makes.

Big fan of Goldacre's column and website too.

Feelgood

AtomicHorror wrote: »

Not in either field but I'm a biology PhD. student. Liked the book a lot, though at times I felt he was overstating some points and not giving some of the more complex concepts their due coverage. Overall I'd consider it essential reading for anyone who dabbles in CAM. I imagine the real advocates will either dismiss the book or crazylogic their way around the points it makes.
Big fan of Goldacre's column and website too.

That actually occured to me too, but then I was thinking that the majority audience he was aiming was the general public, i.e. not scientific people which is why I think he veered away from all the complex concepts and just labelled them as 'sciency bits'.

I'm still a bit baffled as to whether the book was aimed at bad science or just at bad rational thinking though overall its awesome either way. Defintely a must have read for anyone in CAM!.

Can you imagine being half way through a nutrition degree and then reading this bad boy?. I'd be rightly annoyed!. Also big fan of Goldacre, very intelligent dude. I actually only found out that he was so young after finishing the book. 34 :eek:

I thought it was written by some old professor in Oxford somewhere it was that precise, though hes only a young fella.

Did anyone see his 10 minute slot on the Panel?. Would give you a good idea of what the book is about for those who haven't read it...

JuliusCaesar

You might also like the Science for Celebrities site too:

http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/132/

(Where's the little linky gone?!)

Prime Mover

Some of the Gillian McKeith stuff on that site is scary.... (the badscience site)

"She says DNA is an anti-ageing constituent: if you “do not have enough RNA/DNA”, in fact, you “may ultimately age prematurely”. Stress can deplete your DNA, but algae will increase it: and she reckons it’s only present in growing cells."

"chlorophyll, for example: how it’s “high in oxygen” and will “oxygenate your blood”."

AtomicHorror

Feelgood wrote: »

Also big fan of Goldacre, very intelligent dude. I actually only found out that he was so young after finishing the book. 34 :eek:

I thought it was written by some old professor in Oxford somewhere it was that precise, though hes only a young fella.

Did anyone see his 10 minute slot on the Panel?. Would give you a good idea of what the book is about for those who haven't read it...

Didn't see that but I have seen him on a couple of TV slots. He's just what science needs. Young, enthusiastic and charismatic.

Ostrom

Prime Mover wrote: »

Some of the Gillian McKeith stuff on that site is scary.... (the badscience site)

"She says DNA is an anti-ageing constituent: if you “do not have enough RNA/DNA”, in fact, you “may ultimately age prematurely”. Stress can deplete your DNA, but algae will increase it: and she reckons it’s only present in growing cells."

"chlorophyll, for example: how it’s “high in oxygen” and will “oxygenate your blood”."

I particularly liked his comments about how eating extra chlorophyll

'might work if you stick a flashlight up your ar*e'

His best ones are the product demo ones - the H2O, or whatever the product name was. Worked out at an average consumption rate of 2litres per minute over 10 minutes to replace the oxygen it claimed to add on the bottle.

Its really scary how often some of these ideas make it to public policy (brain gym et al)

Dr Galen

i don't hate many people in this world, but that hag faced witch is one of them. extremely dubious "qualifications", made-up "science" and a horrible way of speaking to people she's supposed to be "treating",

1 bullet in a gun and a choice between her and Hitler.........God I'd be tempted

Prime Mover wrote: »

Some of the Gillian McKeith stuff on that site is scary.... (the badscience site)

"She says DNA is an anti-ageing constituent: if you “do not have enough RNA/DNA”, in fact, you “may ultimately age prematurely”. Stress can deplete your DNA, but algae will increase it: and she reckons it’s only present in growing cells."

"chlorophyll, for example: how it’s “high in oxygen” and will “oxygenate your blood”."

Wibbs

Mystik Monkey wrote: »

1 bullet in a gun and a choice between her and Hitler.........God I'd be tempted

Well I would be standing right behind you with a similarly loaded pistol, so you just go with your first instinct.

Phototoxin

"chlorophyll, for example: how it’s “high in oxygen” and will “oxygenate your blood”.

I for one welcome our new plant mutant overlords. :pac:

Having done my dissertation around chlorophyll I can only feel frustrated.