Junk Science
An Overdue Indictment of Government, Industry, and Faith Groups That Twist Science for Their Own Gain
Download image
ISBN10: 0312374801
ISBN13: 9780312374808
Trade Paperback
336 Pages
$22.99
CA$32.99
The American public is suffering 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 condemnation of the egregious and constant warping of science for ideological gain.
Agin argues 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. Junk Science serves as a reminder that Americans, as individuals, must be aware of that manipulation before making choices about health, finances, and families.
Reviews
Praise for Junk Science
"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
"A rare combination of erudition and moral outrage, this book should be read by citizens who worry about the future of the American republic, by educators who are failing to promote scientific literacy, and by scientists who bemoan the trashing of science."—Jay Goldberg, professor at the Department of Neurobiology, Pharmacology, and Physiology, University of Chicago
"Sends a strong, well-reasoned message of the increasing danger that this misuse of science presents to the ideals of American democratic society."—E. Roy John, Ph.D., director of Brain Research Laboratories and professor of psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine
"Timely . . . not for the fainthearted. Intelligently forces us to confront the widespread misconceptions that are passed off as science and argues strongly that people and societies cannot hide behind a shield of ignorance any longer."—Dr. Ian Turnbull, consultant neuroradiologist at the Department of Neurosciences, Hope Hospital, Salford, England
"Agin is . . . focused, extremely articulate, skilled in debate, and above all, dedicated only to what can be experienced through the senses and duplicated in the laboratory."—Chicago Sun-Times
"An eye- and brain-opener, fraught with insight and plenty of astute observations and illustrative cases-in-point."—The San Diego Union-Tribune