What happens when ideas presented as science lead us in the wrong direction? History is filled with brilliant ideas that gave rise to disaster, and this book explores the most fascinating—and significant—missteps.
Pandora’s Lab takes us from opium’s heyday as the pain reliever of choice to recognition of opioids as a major cause of death in the United States; from the rise of trans fats as the golden ingredient for tastier, cheaper food to the heart disease epidemic that followed; and from the cries to ban DDT for the sake of the environment to an epidemic-level rise in world malaria.
These are today’s sins of science—as deplorable as mistaken ideas from the past such as advocating racial purity or using lobotomies as a cure for mental illness. These unwitting errors add up to seven lessons both cautionary and profound, explained by renowned author and speaker Paul A. Offit. Offit uses these lessons to investigate how we can separate good science from bad, using as case studies some of today’s most controversial creations: e-cigarettes, GMOs, and drug treatments for ADHD.
For every “Aha!” moment that should have been an “Oh no,” this book is an engrossing account of how science has been misused disastrously—and how we can learn to use its power for good.
© 2017 Blackstone Publishing (Аудиокнига): 9781470852931
Дата на публикуване
Аудиокнига: 4 юли 2017 г.
Разгледай още от
What happens when ideas presented as science lead us in the wrong direction? History is filled with brilliant ideas that gave rise to disaster, and this book explores the most fascinating—and significant—missteps.
Pandora’s Lab takes us from opium’s heyday as the pain reliever of choice to recognition of opioids as a major cause of death in the United States; from the rise of trans fats as the golden ingredient for tastier, cheaper food to the heart disease epidemic that followed; and from the cries to ban DDT for the sake of the environment to an epidemic-level rise in world malaria.
These are today’s sins of science—as deplorable as mistaken ideas from the past such as advocating racial purity or using lobotomies as a cure for mental illness. These unwitting errors add up to seven lessons both cautionary and profound, explained by renowned author and speaker Paul A. Offit. Offit uses these lessons to investigate how we can separate good science from bad, using as case studies some of today’s most controversial creations: e-cigarettes, GMOs, and drug treatments for ADHD.
For every “Aha!” moment that should have been an “Oh no,” this book is an engrossing account of how science has been misused disastrously—and how we can learn to use its power for good.
© 2017 Blackstone Publishing (Аудиокнига): 9781470852931
Дата на публикуване
Аудиокнига: 4 юли 2017 г.
Разгледай още от
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15.11.2023 г.
This book helps you to see how to question and crosscheck things - I think it helps you develop or sharpen your critical thinking and healthy skepticism. The book in each chapter goes over one of 7 inventions/ cases where people have misused science or ignored the data: 1) the opium, 2) margarine and transfats, 3) synthetic fertilizers, ammonium nitrate and poisonous gases, 4) eugenics - determine, which people are of inferior stock and prevent them from marrying or having children (sterilization) and eliminate their bloodline to have a pure gene pool of nordic/ Ariane type, 5) lobotomy and why was it so readily accepted, no medical association stood up against it despite the media continuing to disinform the public, 6) the story of Rachel Carson (mother of the environmental movement), the zero tolerance concept, war against pesticides, the story and banning of DDT, 7) Nobel prize disease - pride goes before destruction, how Vitamin C became popular.
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