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Kłamstwa Przeklęte Kłamstwa I Nauka (2000)

by Sherry Seethaler(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

8375082279 (ISBN13: 9788375082272)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

review 1: I had this, i guess, on my wish list. I must have head a review or something. Its not a huge surprised, really, because the business of science writing and communication is one that i think and care about. Additionally, the question of how to increase the overall scientific literacy of our nature is one that i care about.So, here is a book that is written to help non-scientists understand how to evaluate scientific ideas. I felt like the book was a bit simplistic to me, but, then, i think about this an awful lot and have a STEM background. I wasn't entirely sold on the examples that were given - i felt like there could have been more, and in some cases, they could have been explored more completely (in the last chapter specifically).I also felt like every highschool s... moretudent should have a course taught on this book. Essentially, it was an introduction about how to think critically about information that is presented to you, and since we all need to make decisions that should be based on facts, critical thinking is a must. As for me, i do enjoy thinking about the problem. The book gave me one or two shortcuts for finding the weak points in piece of science writing (that i knew, but not quite so explicitly), and the names of one or two blogs that i might like to check out...
review 2: 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. less

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