Bad Science

I just need to drop this here. I’ve just finished the book Bad Science after reading it each day on the subway and train. Not for a while I had the pleasure of reading such a fine book.

Rarely I read such a nice, nifty and funny way of describing a lot of irritating things I can see when going through my every-day. Some of them are confusing because I don’t understand, some other are confusing because I understand (or at least think so) and it still works.

To make a long story(book) short: Ben Goldacre will teach you something.

And this something isn’t just a bunch of funny stories and try to tell you the other side of the story. It’s more like at the end of the book you suddenly find yourself with a handful of tools you didn’t know about before. And these are powerful tools.

Suddenly you’ll be able to be more skeptic if somebody approaches you with some facts. And it’s not only about being skeptical. Most of the knowledge you gather is about where to look for errors, find facts and spot faulty concepts.

On the other hand it’s getting a bit more exhausting as well. Suddenly you start to question a lot of things. Not only seriously, but also just for fun. And for recognizing how little you actually know.

I found that this xkcd points out the differences between what you know and what you belive you know quite well.