Bad Science

Description

When Dr. Ben Goldacre saw someone on daytime TV dipping her feet in an “Aqua Detox” footbath, releasing her “toxins” into the water as it turned brown, he decided to test it himself. Using his girlfriend’s Barbie doll and a few simple tools, he gently passed an electric current through warm salt water—and it turned brown. Thus, the world’s first Detox Barbie was born, feet immersed in sludge and miraculously “cleansed.” Dr. Goldacre, author of the Bad Science column in The Guardian, exposes the pseudoscience, hype, and half-truths we encounter daily in media, advertising, and product claims. From the misleading pie charts on cereal boxes to cosmetics promising to “visibly” reduce wrinkles, Bad Science is a witty and fearless exploration of how facts are twisted and science is misused. Sharp, funny, and enlightening, it arms readers with the tools to tell good science from bad—and to see through the nonsense that too often passes for truth.