Lies, Damned Lies, and Science: How to Sort Through the Noise Around Global Warming, the Latest Health Claims, and Other Scientific Controversies

by Sherry Seethaler

Book Overview

What's healthy? What's unhealthy? What's safe? What's dangerous? Watch the news, and it's easy to be overwhelmed by snippets of badly presented science: information that's incomplete, confusing,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0137155220
• ISBN13: 9780137155224
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: FT Press
• Length: 198 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

An excellent guide to critical thinking

A good way to read this book is to start with the conclusion where the author shares twenty thinking tools to evaluate findings. This is an abstract of the entire book including all the critical thinking processes the author covers. This is an excellent book that provides the qualitative critical thinking necessary for making better rational decisions regarding purchases, health care, and lifestyle. Many books impart the statistics to differentiate what is truly different from what is not. But, few books focus on framing the question correctly, understanding the biases of the stakeholders, and how to evaluate the findings. Ultimately, the qualitative thinking the author imparts is as important as the quantitative knowledge imparted by math books. The author does an excellent job explaining how science works. It is a constant feedback loop of battling hypothesis and rebuttals that confuse the public. But, if you make an effort to understand the issue, you will grasp the evolving nuances of the arguments. Through this process our knowledge invariably advances. Some highlights of the book include the matrix of stakeholders issues on page 34 regarding Global Warming, Drug approval, Genetically engineered food, and Mad cow disease. This matrix succinctly fleshes out all stakeholders positions on those four complex issues. The table of evidence being studied to understand climate change on page 83 is really thorough. Also, the concept of "pseudosymmetry of scientific authority" as explained on page 16 is interesting. It means the Media sometimes allocates as much print to both sides of an issue when the vast majority of the scientific community is on one side (that's why it is called pseudosymmetry). The entire chapter 5 on differentiating between cause and coincidence is excellent. Chapter 7 on interpreting statistics is also very good including its specific section on elucidating hidden confounding factors. Within this chapter, she also states the most important phrase in statistics: "results can be statistically significant without being statistically meaningful." Or given a large enough sample size, stat tests invariably uncover at least small differences which may be trivial. Chapter 9 is an interesting overview of widespread thinking flaws including anchoring, confirmation bias, confusing randomness for a trend, overgeneralization, and mistaking cause and effect. Those themes are now often covered in the trendy topic of behavioral economics. Chapter 10 discloses many websites that are helpful in investigating various claims. On the other hand, I also found an error and a debatable position. On page 78, the diagram mapping out a clinical study should have Group 1 getting a placebo and Group 2 getting the drug. The diagram instead shows Group 1 receiving nothing and Group 2 receiving both the placebo and the drug. I bet this has confused many readers. Additionally, the mentioned concept of pseudosymmetry is v

Scientific Findings: A Useful Guide for Everyone

Written by a science educator, this excellent book presents a very logical and level-headed overview of the scientific process, scientific findings and the often confusing aftermath. The author discusses how results from scientific research are presented and how they may be interpreted - by other scientists, by the media, by various stakeholders, etc. The reader is coached on how to be cautious when seemingly extraordinary scientific claims are made and by whom. One learns which questions are the right ones to ask. A few examples are as follows: Is this finding the result of coincidence or an actual cause and effect relationship? Who is making the claim and what do they have to gain from this finding? Is the study large enough, e.g., enough data, to inspire confidence in the validity of the results? Throughout this well-written book, useful real-life cases are discussed as examples to illustrate the author's points. Through these examples, the reader can get a feel for how science really works. The writing style is authoritative, accessible, clear, friendly and engaging. This enjoyable book can be used as a guide by anyone who wants solid, down-to-earth advice on how to make sense of the many scientific claims that so often make the headlines.

Critical Thinking for Everyone

This book will not tell you what to think; it will teach you how to evaluate what others -want- you to think. If I were teaching a course on Critical Thinking, I would use this book as the central textbook; never before have I seen such a concise, readable coverage of the topic in a single volume. Each component of the process is identified, described, and presented with real-world examples. At a time when everyone is trying to sell us something -- be it material goods or strange new ideas -- critical thinking is essential for survival. Whether you are trying to figure out where to take a stand on global warming, or how to not get ripped off by the local used-car salesman, this book will help. *Everyone* should read this book: I can only give it five stars here, but it rates many more. Excellent job!

thinking person's guide to science

disclaimer: Sherry is a friend of mine. But, I am *not* a scientist and will give you an unbiased view - especially since this book is not what I expected at all. What I was hoping for when she would describe her book was more like a "science for dummies" - I wanted her to simplistically describe what I was hearing and reading. Wrong. While Sherry does include very understandable explanations of how things work (imagine comparing Harry Potter learning potions to the scientific method), reading this book makes you rethink everything you thought you knew about current scientific issues. While the science is serious, the text is readable and humorous. She gives you an insiders view of the research and politics that are not apparent when reading a newspaper summary of a research report from a journal like "Science" or the "New England Journal of Medicine." Want to better understand the scientific issues of today? This book is for you. It'll will make you think and will make you look at everything - including non-science issues - in a different light.