Bad Science is a book by Ben Goldacre, a practising doctor and medical researcher, in which he explains the (bad) science behind some of the fads and health scares around today and describes some of the tricks used to dupe the public.

He lays into complementary medicine, especially homoeopathy and nutrition-ism explaining how truly ridiculous they are. He exposes the total lack of scientific evidence and the backgrounds of the self-professed experts in these fields. Mainstream medicine is also taken to task  as he shows how big pharmaceutical companies manipulate trial data to sell their products.

I found the chapter on the MMR scare story particularly interesting as a parent of 2 children. He demonstrate admirably how the media turned  seriously flawed medical research into the biggest health scare of recent times.

All in all an excellent book and well worth the read.

Rating: 5/5

You can buy the book here