Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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!

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 very interesting. But, one should not immediately derive that science is a popularity contest and accept that when many more scientists are on one side of the issue they are right. This is not necessarily so. Thomas S. Kuhn, in his classic "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions," has exposed that correct new scientific ideas often come up against massive resistance from the scientific establishment hoisting the status quo. This suggests that sometimes pseudosymmetry is not so "pseudo" after all.

If this subject interests you, I recommend Motulsky Intuitive Biostatistics: A Nonmathematical Guide to Statistical Thinking that will provide you a strong quantitative foundation to evaluate any hypothesis. I also liked Greenhalgh How to Read a Paper: The Basics of Evidence-based Medicine and Stanovich formidable What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought. Both books explore various facets of Seethaler's critical thinking in greater details.

Length:: 7:23 Mins

Hi, this is Joanne, a bioengineering instructor at the University of Illinois. I read science books and review them. See more at my youtube site [...]

The review for Dr. Seethaler's book begins several minutes in.
This book is a fabulous manual to help readers learn how to think critically about scientific information we are bombarded with via the news.

On page 107 of this book, in a box labeled "Selection bias lives on in infamy," one reads that "What was arguably the all-time greatest example of selection bias resulted in the embarrassing 1948 Chicago Tribune headline `Dewey defeats Truman.' In reality, Harry Truman trounced his opponent." The author goes on to tell us that "...the telephone polls conducted tended to favor Dewey because in 1948, telephones were generally limited to wealthier households, and Dewey was mainly popular among elite voters."

Ms. Seethaler has confused the 1948 election with that of 1936, when the Literary Digest straw poll predicted incorrectly that Landon would defeat Roosevelt. Selection bias might be a reasonable explanation for the Literary Digest debacle, but not for the 1948 polls, as shown by the 1949 Mosteller Commission report to the Social Science Research Council.

Worse, the explanation of why the polls were wrong is pure fabrication. Among other things, there were no telephone polls in 1948, much less in 1936, when the Literary Digest relied primarily on mail ballots. Telephone polling did not become the norm until the 1970's.

So much has been written about the 1936 and 1948 presidential election polls that it is hard to believe any competent researcher could get the story so wrong. Given the title and stated purpose of this book, the lapse is simply jaw-dropping. How can one trust anything else one reads there?

Beyond that, the author's grasp of statistical concepts is tenuous at best, she frequently makes arguments that treat unsupported assertions as established facts, the writing is deadly and the book is organized like a collection of crib notes. I first found it in my local library, but decided to buy a copy as an illustration of the worst of science journalism. I can't think of any other use for it.

And this book is aimed at providing the tools to reduce ignorance.

How can a non-scientist make sense of science when so much science-related information is poorly presented, incomplete, contradictory or wrong? What tools can we use in order to assess and make sense of what is presented as fact? So much of the `information' we receive is packaged and presented in a format which makes it difficult to understand let alone analyse the underlying facts.

In this book, Dr Seethaler covers topics such as the use and misuse of statistical data; identifying logical fallacies; uncovering the difference between cause and coincidence; and how to identify both the relevant stakeholders in any particular issue and their motivations. In short, this book is a guide to the techniques of critical thinking and evaluation applied to science.

Dr Seethaler reminds us how science really works, and how progress can involve disagreement between scientists. There are a number of examples discussed in this book: including BSE (Mad Cow Disease); global warming, genetic engineering of crops, and drug treatments for depression.

I enjoyed this book. The tools of critical thinking and evaluation discussed here are used in a number of different fields - including health, science and public policy more generally. These tools are not just restricted to these fields: we each have to make decisions based on science, and live with the consequences of such decisions made by others. It makes sense that we seek to understand the material presented so that we can make informed choices.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

If you have a casual interest in science but would like to learn more about the process and how to evaluate research you hear in the news, this is a great guide. It's well written and action-oriented, being a quick read that doesn't feel padded.

I give it 4 stars instead of 5 only because more advanced readers may not learn anything new. They'll still enjoy the read and it will serve as a good refresher, though.

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.

Lies, Damned Lies and Science: How to sort through the noise around global warming, the latest health claims, and other scientific controversies by Dr. Sherry Seethaler

"Lies, Damned Lies and Science" is a book about critical thinking in the everyday use of science. The book helps lay people understand how science works and how to put scientific claims in the proper context. This 224-page book is composed of the following ten chapters: 1. Potions, plot, personalities: understand how science progresses and why scientists sometimes disagree, 2. Who's who?: identify those who hold stake in an issue and what their positions are, 3. Decisions, decisions: elucidate all the pros and cons of a decision, 4. Compare and contrast: place alternatives in an appropriate context to evaluate tradeoffs, 5. What happens if...?: distinguish between cause and coincidence, 6.Specific or general: recognize how broadly the conclusions from a study may be applied, 7. Fun figures: see through the number jumble, 8. Society's say: discern the relationships between science and policy, 9. All the tricks in the book: get past the ploys designed to simply bypass logic, and 10. Fitting the pieces together: know how to seek information to gain a balanced perspective.

Positives:
1. A well-written and accessible book that teaches us how to think critically about scientific claims.
2. Dr. Seethaler explains the basics of science and does so with ease. It's a testament to her prodigious knowledge of science and most importantly her ability to relay such knowledge to the masses.
3. As an accomplished educator, Dr. Seethaler makes use of multiple tools to convey her thoughts: graphs, charts, lists and accessible prose backed by supporting references.
4. The "true" scientific method.
5. Climate models.
6. Great practical examples throughout.
7. An interesting look at how scientific disputes are resolved.
8. The understanding of "pseudosymmetry of scientific authority" which is the fallacy committed by the media in which they portray scientists evenly divided between two points of view, when in reality that is not the case.
9. The all-important peer-reviewed scientific process.
10. Many hot political topics involving science discussed: Global warming, genetically engineered food, mad cow disease...to name a few.
11. Putting things in proper scientific context.
12. The differences between experimental and non-experimental studies.
13. Why certain animals and even fruit flies are studied.
14. A lot of interesting tidbits throughout the book.
15. The Gambler's Fallacy.
16. Confirmation bias...
17. Beware of vague claims and why you should.
18. Honestly where would science be without evolution?
19. How to be critical without being cynical. Excellent point.
20. The truth about why DDT was banned.
21. An excellent chapter on the twenty essential applications of the tools.
22. Links worked great!
23. Very helpful and useful list of links. Thank you.

Negatives:
1. Risk factors were not defined to my satisfaction.
2. Scientists will find this book fairly basic because it is intended for the masses.
3. I would have liked a summary chart of sorts that listed the main scientific topics and what the scientific consensus is versus the perception.

In summary, I highly recommend this book to the general public but in particular to science educators. This is a very useful and important book. Dr. Seathaler accomplishes her goal of educating the public by providing a useful toolkit to critically assess science information obtained from the media and other popular sources.

Recommendations: "Merchants of Doubt..." by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, "Science Under Siege..." Kendrick Frazier, "Why People Believe Weird Things..." by Michael Shermer, "Science Matters..." Robert M. Hazen and James Trefil, and "and "Idiot America..." by Charles P. Pierce.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Science: How to Sort through the Noise around Global Warming, the Latest Health Claims, and Other Scientific Controversies discusses the workings and failings of the societal systems that fund, pursue, report, and use results of scientific research. Dr. Seethaler discusses broadly some typical methodologies of medical, biological, and physical research and the ways in which research results can be applied properly (and improperly) to making science- and technology-related policy decisions. She presents, in a clear and accessible way, a toolkit that can help the reader to better monitor and guide such decisions. She illustrates the tools' use in the context of a number of recent and current examples.

I consider this a very good book on an important subject. I would say, "You (with a few exceptions noted below) should read this book!" I'd go even farther here, and suggest that this book (or material of similar scope and quality) should serve as a source for a required (high-school or college) course in "Science and Society, 101". The only people who should not read this book are those who 1) have firmly decided that science is irrelevant to life in this world; 2) do not or will not have any role in setting science- and tech-related policies; 3) do not care what kind of life they and their offspring will have in the future; or 4) are already thoroughly familiar with the subject.

As a physicist with 30+ years' experience in research, I (naturally) find a few ways in which the book might be improved. For example, I think the book falls a little short on discussing how theory, numerical modeling, and experiment fit together in physical science research. Also, a somewhat more extensive and deeper discussion of "Global Warming" or one other substantial (but slightly less heated?) case could be helpful.

Did I mention that I found the book an enjoyable read?

The Kindle edition was well done, though I consider the nominal $10 price of eBooks to be too high.

The author begins by noting that (Page xvii): "My goal in writing this book is to help people make sense of the science-related issues that impact their daily lives." The following ten chapters try to show how science as an enterprise works, how disagreements develop, and how they are resolved. The book also addresses how to make sense of scientific disagreements. The conclusion notes 20 applications of what went before.

Among examples: Legitimate criticism can be distinguished from science bashing; Beware of the self-declared revolutionary who claims to be unappreciated by the scientific community; The meaning of statistics can be distorted by the data collection procedures.

The book provides grist for thinking about science in chapter 10, by providing case studies of claims, who is making the claim, clues as to whether the claim is scientifically based or not, caveats regarding the findings, and an evaluation of the piece of research mentioned. In short, the chapter provides test cases of the reader's ability to apply lessons to concrete examples of research.

At any rate, a useful volume that helps readers make sense of the enterprise of science and evaluate scientific debate. Well written. . . .