Bad Science

Outline

Bad Science (2008) teaches readers how to spot misleading claims about health and medicine. Ben Goldacre exposes common tricks behind exaggerated news stories, questionable health products, and poorly designed studies, and explains basic ideas such as the placebo effect and fair testing. Written with humour and clarity, the book helps people think critically about evidence and make better decisions about their health.

• Exaggerated health stories in the news often rely on a few common tricks that readers can learn to recognise.
• Questionable health products can sound convincing, so claims about them deserve a request for real evidence.
• Poorly designed studies can mislead, which is why fair testing matters when judging whether a treatment works.
• The placebo effect is a basic idea that explains why people can feel better without a real treatment.
• Thinking critically about evidence helps you make better decisions about your own health.

Ben Goldacre is a British physician, academic, and science writer at the University of Oxford who works to improve the use of evidence in medicine. He wrote the popular Bad Science column in The Guardian for many years. His books include Bad Science and Bad Pharma.