Amazon.com: Junk Science: How Politicians, Corporations, and Other Hucksters Betray Us: Dan Agin Ph.D.: Books

Review

"JUNK SCIENCE is a passionate, minutely-informed and scrupulously fair analysis of all the abuses and misuses of science that are rampant today--a clarion call to action which concerns us all. One might wish that such a book were not needed, but it is, more now than ever before."--Oliver Sacks, M.D., author of Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat

Product Description

An overdue indictment of government, industry, and faith groups that twist science for their own gain.

During the next thirty years, the American public will suffer from a rampage against reason by special interests in government, commerce, and the faith industry, and the rampage has already begun. In Junk Science, Dan Agin offers a response—a stinging condemnation of the egregious and constant warping of science for ideological gain.

In this provocative, wide-ranging, and hard-hitting book, Agin argues from the center that we will pay a heavy price for the follies of people who consciously twist the public’s understanding of the real world.

In an entertaining but frank tone, Agin separates fact from conveniently “scientific” fiction and exposes the data faking, reality ignoring, fear mongering, and outright lying that contribute to intentionally manufactured public ignorance. Many factions twist scientific data to maintain riches and power, and Agin outs them all in sections like these:

--“Buyer Beware” (genetically modified foods, aging, and tobacco companies)
--“Medical Follies” (chiropractics, health care, talk therapy)
--“Poison and Bombs in the Greenhouse” (pollution, warfare, global warming)
--“Religion, Embryos, and Cloning”
--“Genes, Behavior, and Race”

We already pay a heavy price for many groups’ conscious manipulation of the public’s understanding of science, and Junk Science arms us with understanding, cutting through the fabric of lies and setting the record straight.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (October 3, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312352417
ISBN-13: 978-0312352417
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #447,617 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
DURING THE NEXT THIRTY years the American public will suffer the consequences of a rampage against reason by special interests in government, commerce, and the "faith" industry. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
diet circus, twisting science, blastocyst stem cells, junk medicine, twisted science, junk science, defense enzymes, intelligent design theory, nutritional genomics, research cloning, fabricated data, fetal environment, reproductive cloning, human embryonic stem cells

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Philip Morris, Soviet Union, President's Council, Catholic Church, Henrietta Lacks, Nazi Germany, The New England Journal of Medicine, Gummi Bears, Leon Kass, Milton Friedman, North Korea, Standard Oil, Stephen Jay Gould, Arthur Jensen, Bell Labs, Environmental Protection Agency, Frederick Seitz, Technology Review, World War, Bavh-Dole Act, Ethyl Corporation, President Bush, William Shockley

New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 74 books:

The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould on page 273, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Emergency Medicine Valuepack (Tintinalli 6/e and Promes) by Judith Tintinalli on page 104, and Back Matter
Developmental Biology, Eighth Edition by Scott F. Gilbert in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
New England Journal of Medicine (5 Year Cumulative Index 1984-1988) by Marcia Angell in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The Perversion Of Knowledge: The True Story Of Soviet Science by Dr. Vadim J. Birstein in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

See all 74 books this book cites

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Atheist Universe by David Mills

Discusses:

Merchants of Immortality by Stephen S. Hall

Discusses:

God and the Embryo by Brent Waters

Discusses:

The New Brain Sciences by Dai Rees

Discusses:

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	65% buy the item featured on this page: Junk Science: How Politicians, Corporations, and Other Hucksters Betray Us 3.5 out of 5 stars (12) $16.47
	14% buy Corrupted Science: Fraud, Ideology and Politics in Science 3.6 out of 5 stars (8) $9.20
	11% buy Junk Science: An Overdue Indictment of Government, Industry, and Faith Groups That Twist Science for Their Own Gain 2.5 out of 5 stars (8) $10.17

Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

(What's this?)

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.

politics(2)

science(2)

cigarettes(1)

creationism(1)

global warming(1)

health care(1)

junk science(1)

religion(1)

Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search

No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

12 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

3.5 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for those interested in how institutions are manipulating research for personal and political goals, October 16, 2006

By	David Sinason "Ph.D." (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Wonder how two politicians with different views can tell you that science supports each of their positions? Wonder how a corporation's research can support an agenda that is later found to be without basis and in opposition to the public well being? This book provides case illustrations of how governments, corporations, religious organizations and individuals have manipulated science to provide erroneous results and invalid conclusions. If you are involved in research (of any kind) or have suspected that you have been misled - this book is a MUST.
Well-written with a definite passion for truth.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't always distinguish between junk science and pure fraud, July 9, 2007

By	Edmundo el Profundo (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I was disappointed in this book. It doesn't deal quite as much with the manipulation of science but often just pure fraud. For example, it has a chapter on the tobacco industry's insistence that smoking isn't harmful. But we know that there wasn't so much bogus science going on as much as the industry hiding the results of actual science that pointed to obvious health problems. More than a full page of the chapter simply quotes lies told to the public by the industry. Surely the majority of people who would pick up a book like this already knows of the fraud that had been perpetuated by Big Tobacco for decades. Chapter 10, which debunks the usefulness of talk therapy, was ripe with irony. I largely agree with the author on this but I was really surprised that he never cited a single research article that actually studied the effectiveness of such therapy. I was especially bemused by his statement that "...psychiatry departments will probably disappear by mid-century." (p. 151). How did he happen to come to this conclusion? Who knows? Junk science, perhaps. It really would have been nice to read about how Freud's theories took hold despite the absence of controlled research behind the theory, but the father of psychotherapy's name only comes up in passing as Agin cites Freudian psychonalysis as one of the 23 types of therapy that he eschews in a single sentence.

The book does have a substantial amount of information and it and the author knows his stuff. It's also an easy read. But the 12-page chapters on individual topics that are poorly documented just didn't excite me. And it doesn't really uncover the kind of manipulative research that I expected to read about. It was more a soapbox diatribe against corrupt corporations and lazy or malevolent legislators (a group worthy of derision) than an expose on how actual science is manipulated.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Junk Science, ....a call to reforms, October 23, 2006

By	Dr. Howard Theodore Block - See all my reviews

This book by Dr. Dan Agin, " Junk Science" (How Politicians, Corporations, and Other Hucksters Betray Us) is fascinating. Dr Agin clearly draws the line of separation of weak/bad science from the "TWISTING" of science all for the benefit of the entities that he NAMES.
Dr. Agin's clearness of thought leads to honest conclusions. His personal observations and his chapter called "Sources" provide the American public with awareness why deep suffering is happening now, and that this suffering will only getworse, unless an informed American public insists and pushes for reforms.
Dr. Agin has given Americans the awareness in this book.
We ignore his conclusions and admonitions at our peril.
This book is exceptional, and rates 5 stars from me.
Dr. Howard Theodore Block

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 12 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Some good stuff, but too much junky science
"Junk Science" is a disappointment; it contains too much junk science.
The first two chapters are excellent. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Charles Bradley

2.0 out of 5 stars "Junk Science" Trashes Religion
Just as I was enjoying this book for its overview of how science has been inimically twisted and corrupted to serve the views if governments, industry and politics, the narrative... Read more

Published 7 months ago by Richard Brookes

2.0 out of 5 stars pure liberal dogma
Don't waste your money on this pile of liberal crap.case in point-global warming. The entire theory is junk science designed to scare people into higher taxes & more government... Read more

Published 10 months ago by bean head

4.0 out of 5 stars A broad, sweeping review of science slants
While Agin could have gone into more detail and expounded upon the junk science to be found in various areas of our life, he does an admirable job of highlighting an example (or... Read more

Published 18 months ago by Johannes Kepler

3.0 out of 5 stars Much good material
Junk Science: How Politicians, Corporations, and Other Hucksters Betray Us covers a variety of important topics such as diet fads, aging and longevity, quack doctoring, the race... Read more

Published on March 9, 2007 by The Professor

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Start
This is an excellent book for the average reader and may not be for the advanced reader. Junk science is infesting the media (TV, radio and print), the Internet and America's... Read more

Published on March 8, 2007 by Dr. Fred Coles

5.0 out of 5 stars A most not only for general-interest public libraries, but for any college-level holding strong in the sciences.
JUNK SCIENCE: HOW POLITICIANS, CORPORATIONS AND OTHER HUCKSTERS BETRAY US surveys the invasion of special interests into the impartial research ideals of science, condemning the... Read more

Published on February 5, 2007 by Midwest Book Review

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but wanders way off the subject
I looked forward to this book, since I see the misuse of scientific research every day in the lay press and in governmental policy. Read more

Published on November 20, 2006 by Science Guy

5.0 out of 5 stars A Thought-provoking read
Junk Science is a thought-provoking, provocative and necessary read. Politics, religion, corporations, media and many forms of organized interests are taken on categorically and... Read more

Published on October 25, 2006 by EA Poe

› See all 12 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; }

Customer Discussions

Beta (What's this?)

New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.

This product's forum (2 discussions)

	Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
	Hello, I'm the author of this book.	4	January 2008
	Here is the Table of Contents	0	October 2006

› See all 2 discussions...

Start a new discussion

Topic:

First post:

Receive e-mail when new posts are made

Prompts for sign-in

[Cancel]

Guidelines

Active discussions in related forums

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
science David Ussery speaks	150	21 seconds ago
politics Do you believe 9-11-01 disaster was an "Inside Job" ?	2880	24 seconds ago
politics 7 threads in one day - How does she do it.	142	2 minutes ago
politics With ratings going South, Dems turn to "Bush Show Trials"...	17	4 minutes ago
politics Antisemitism, Islamophobia or criticism?	324	4 minutes ago
science Global warming is nothing but a hoax and a scare tactic	8789	9 minutes ago
creationism Evolution versus Christianity?	50	22 hours ago
creationism Like minded encouragement and fellowship	6	3 days ago