Hoodwinking the Nation (Hardcover)

~ Julian Simon (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Julian Simon loved to make bets. Fifty years from now readers who peruse Earth in the Balance by Albert Gore and Hoodwinking the Nation by Julian Simon will giggle at one of them. Let's bet which." - Ben Wattenberg "Julian Simon had a brilliant insight into the economics of doomsaying...the business of environmentalism has fouled the marketplace of ideas to the point where truth is an endangered species." - P. J. O'Rourke" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

Most people in the United States believe that our environment is getting dirtier, we are running out of natural resources, and population growth in the world is a burden and a threat. These beliefs, according to Simon, are entirely wrong. Why do the media report so much false bad news about the environment, resources, and population? And why do we believe it? Those are the questions distinguished scholar Julian L. Simon set out to answer in his book, Hoodwinking the Nation.

The opening chapter of this, the last book by Simon, discusses facts about population growth, natural resources, and the environment, and presents survey evidence of the public's view of these topics. The discrepancy between the facts and the public beliefs sets up the puzzle that the remaining chapters attempt to explain. Simon explores how and why false bad news is produced, citing government reports as often being the basis for environmental news scams and doomsday analyses. He examines the intellectual bases of concepts that lead to scares about resource depletion and population growth, and why biologists, in particular, tend to become overly alarmed about mythical environmental scares. Simon follows with an explanation of how the false bad news is disseminated. He notes that journalists know little about statistics and science and thus gather data in ways that lead to inaccurate conclusions, and politicians may misuse statistics in the service of their own policy and political goals. Simon contends that psychological and cultural mechanisms make people receptive to bad rather than good news and that most people have a too positive view of the past and a too negative view of the future.

The purpose of this book is not to preach but to examine. Most importantly, it aims to consider whether institutional structures can be changed in a way that would allow more sanctions against undesirable practices and unethical behavior. This volume will be valuable to political economists and sociologists, and the general reader concerned with environmental issues and their social impacts.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 154 pages
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers (May 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560004347
• ISBN-13: 978-1560004349
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #435,586 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recycled Simon, April 3, 2000

By	Thomas Kearney (Plainview, New York United States) - See all my reviews

I was somewhat disappointed with this book because it turned out to be a heavily abridged version of The Ultimate Resource 2, which is a great book. Nevertheless, for someone who wants an introduction to Julian Simon's writings, Hoodwinking The Nation will admirably serve the purpose. If you like it, then I highly recommend The Ultimate Resource 2, which is about 4 times the length and contains lots of charts and graphs. But if you have already read The Ultimate Resource 2, you will not need this book.

42 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Antidote to Dumbing Down, July 23, 2000

By	David C. Greene (Oberlin, OH United States) - See all my reviews

For ten years I (a physicist) have been reading both scientific and political news about global warming. This has led to strong feelings of frustration in trying to answer the question: "Why is the global warming steamroller so overwhelming?" Julian Simon provides the answer - not a very encouraging one, but his explanation of the causes of the hoodwinking could form the basis for fixing what is wrong with the way we form opinions. I am not confident that we could ever develop his suggested "Truth Lobby," but the idea is intriguing. My reading of a library copy of this book has motivated me toward buying the book for presentation to the president of our local college. I would do so in the hope that reading it would help her understand the hoodwinking that is happening under her nose in the college's "Environmental Studies" program (part of the college's Department of Politics). Simon exhibits admirable restraint where I might have resorted to ridicule. I think that he didn't go far enough in identifying vested interests in people with impeccable motives (e.g., "Saving the Earth"). Now, if we can just convince Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio, Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Dan Rather and Bill Clinton that they don't know jake about climate science ... . This is an important, scholarly book with importance outside the area of environmental activism.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended!, May 26, 2004

By	Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In this fascinating book, American author and economist Julian L. Simon (1932-98) looks at a perplexing phenomenon - as things get demonstrably better, polls show that people perceive things to be getting markedly worse! Beginning with the "vanishing farmland" crisis, the Dr. Simon analyzes various environmental crises, and uses reliable statistics to show how the situations have been distorted by the press and various vested interests (usually environmental groups and U.S. governmental agencies). Indeed, all too often data which show improving situations are massaged so that they are actually presented as bad news. Along the way, the author spears many sacred cows, and shows how the public has been hoodwinked into fearing a future bright with potential.

I must admit that I tripped across the book quite by accident, and I am quite happy that I did. Dr. Simon is a welcome ray of light on a subject kept dark and murky. If you want to get a view on how the public can be (and often is) misled on environmental issues, then you would do well to read this book. I highly recommend it!