Bad Science by Ben Goldacre

Bad Science is effectively the book of the blog by the lovely Ben Goldacre*. Throughout the book Ben deconstructs sloppy journalism and abuses of scientific language, roughly in order of how angry Ben gets about them. So we start with relatively harmless bollocks like detoxing and face cream, moving on to Homeopathy and Nutritionism. Then we look at the ethics of pharmaceutical companies and finally media heath scares and hoaxes like MMR. On the way there are some excellent explanations of the placebo effect, and of probability and statistics, which strike many people as counter-intuitive. And some amusing ranting at Ben's favourite awful poo lady**.

There is also a bonus chapter available from the internet, which deals with a particularly unpleasant man who has been trying to flog vitamin pills to Africa as a cure for AIDS. This was left out of earlier editions of the book, due to the filthy villain attempting to sue our Ben.

I particularly liked the final chapter in which he complains bitterly about the quality of science journalism. Ben points out that there must be loads of people with degrees in science subjects who have gone on to work in unrelated fields (yes! Yes! Here I am, Ben!) and yet whenever we get any science on in the media it has to be dumbed down so the lowest common denominator crapwits who couldn't differentiate e^x with respect to x can understand it. Where's my science, eh, world? Is it in the same place as all the trousers that actually come up to your waist have gone?

To the roll call of “cargo cult science” (things that like to use sciencey-sounding language but completely lack the rigour of the genuine article) I would like to add psychology and economics. In fact I think it would greatly benefit the world if economics were renamed “guesswork”.


*I think I have a bit of an intellectual crush on him. I'm not interested in the contents of his trousers, but I do love him a bit. If he ever wants a platonic groupie, he knows where I am!

**Amoungst other hilarious claims, Gillian believes that "foul-smelling stools" are a sign of ill health. This especially amused me; McKeith literally thinks her shit don't smell.

Will Storr vs The Supernatural - Will Storr

I would never have read this book if left to my own devices, but it was sent to me by my sister and she can be very insistent. I don’t want to have a battle of wills with someone who can run 26 miles!

As I checked out the book I noticed that it was made out of recycled articles written for such respected scientific journals as “Loaded” and “The Face”. The day I turn to Loaded to unravel the mysteries of the universe for me will be the same day I get my tits out and claim it’s feminism. Despite this, the book is actually quite good fun. For the most part, Will Storr uses the Louis Theroux method of simply following people about and letting them make fools of themselves, rather than subjecting them to rigorous cross-questioning. There are some amusing descriptions of how Will manages to scare himself on some of the outings, and I find the juxtaposition of the paranormal and the everyday in some of the quotes very funny. For example there are two self-appointed anti-Satanist vigilantes who claim that Clapham Common is popular with sinister group The Friends of Hecate partly because it is the confluence of six leylines, and partly because it has good parking facilities. I also liked the way several people in the book say they are, “Going to do a Ouija board.” the same way that I might say that I am “going to do a poo”.

Despite being an Atheist with no belief in the hereafter, I think it would be kind of nice if ghosts did exist, because it would make the world more interesting. But there are some bits when the quality of the “evidence” given by paranormal investigators in the book just makes me want to put my head in my hands. These include Electronic Voice Phenomenon, photos of “orbs” and man who claims to have met a werewolf. It seems that for every normal, sane person who has seen something they can’t properly account for, Will meets 4 or 5 shysters, attention-seekers and nut-jobs, including the cast and crew of Living TV’s Most Haunted!. And then there are the very, very many mediums all of whom have a American Indian spirit guide – I’m not sure there are enough dead Indians to go round!

I think that one of the main reasons that I remain very skeptical about ghosts is that I have seen one and I don’t think what I saw was the spirit of a dead person: One summer in the late 90s, I went on my first and only package holiday. My friend and I stayed in a Spanish resort which closely resembled Blackpool for a week. One night as I was drifting off to sleep on the settee (we had a double bed and a settee, for some reason), I saw a transparent white lady in a Victorian dress sitting on the stool next to me. My eyes were open and I could see the cupboards on the other side of the room through her. Not only that, but she held one of my hands and I could actually feel the pressure of her fingers. The experience was absolutely terrifying, especially since I couldn’t move at all. Unable to do anything else, I thought hard at the woman to go away and she slowly faded out. When I eventually calmed down a bit, I started to think a bit more sensibly about the experience. I was staying on the 7^th floor of an apartment block built in the 70s or 80s. How could anyone have been strolling about 7 floors in the air over 100 years ago? Sadly, my visitor must have come from my own demented brain. My experience has shown that it is possible to be in a mental state in which you are awake but dreaming. So when people claim, as in this book, to have witnessed supernatural events, I don’t assume that they are liars or mad, but I don’t necessarily think that what they saw was real either.

Not only have I visited places that could not possibly be haunted and seen a ghost, but I have looked for them at an allegedly haunted caving hut and seen nothing. I have noted that people who have seen the Ystradfellte ghost (which takes the form of an old woman who tells you off for making a mess in her cottage) tend to have known that the hut is supposed to be haunted, and also been in the pub. If you chose to investigate these sightings, be warned: All caving huts are very basic and this is the worst one I’ve ever stayed in. The ghost is probably its best feature and may not even show.