Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud FROM THE PUBLISHER
In a time of dazzling scientific progress, how are we to separate genuine breakthroughs from the noisy gaggle of false claims? Touching on everything from Deepak Chopra's "quantum alternative to growing old" and "free energy" machines to unwarranted hype surrounding the International Space Station. Robert L. Park leads us through the dim back alleys of fringe science, down the gleaming corridors of Washington power, and even into our evolutionary past to search out the origins of voodoo science. Along the way, Park offers some simple and engaging science lessons, showing us that you don't have to be a scientist to spot the foolish and fraudulent science that swirls around us.
While incorporating elements of high humor, from Joe Newman and his Energy Machine to the French "sniffer plane," this hard-hitting account also tallies the cost: the billions spent by the public on worthless therapies, the tax dollars squandered on huge government projects that are doomed to fail, the investors bilked by schemes that violate the most fundamental laws of nature. But the greater cost is human: fear of imaginary dangers, reliance on magical cures, and, above all, a sort of upside-down view of how the world works.
To expose the forces that sustain voodoo science, Park closely examines the role of the media, the courts, bureaucrats, and politicians, as well as the scientific community. Scientists, he observes, insist that the cure for voodoo science is to raise the general scientific literacy. But what is it that a scientifically literate society should know? It is not specific knowledge of science the public needs, Park argues, so much as a scientific world view -- an understanding that we live in an orderly universe governed by natural laws that cannot be circumvented by magic or miracles.
FROM THE CRITICS
Natural History
Physicist Park debunks some foolish and fraudulent scientific claims, such as magnetic defiency syndrome, cold fusion, and free energy.
KLIATT
We are bombarded daily in the media by "voodoo science," from fatuous pseudoscience to willful misrepresentation. Unfortunately, the general level of science literacy in this country is pitifully low and many of us lack the understanding of basic scientific principles necessary to evaluate such junk science critically. Fortunately, Park—a physics professor (Univ. of Maryland) and science feature writer (New York Times and Washington Post)— has written a book that will go a long way toward filling in the gaps. Voodoo Science is a highly readable expose of headline-catching claims ranging from cancer-causing properties of power lines to homeopathic remedies to cold fusion. This is a must-read for anyone considering a career in popular science writing (and a should-read for all present and future voters—there are several lucid sections on Congress's actions on ineffective products and on pseudoscience lawsuits). Voodoo Science could easily be read cover to cover (or sampled, using tantalizing entries from the index, from "astrology," "bee pollen," and "butterflies," to "Jonestown," "Jurassic Park," and "smart rocks.") Thank goodness Park has joined the ranks of debunkers (whose notables include Benjamin Franklin, Carl Sagan, and Stephen Hawking) in reminding us that while we may long for magic, there is nothing to indicate that things are anything other that what they are. Still, THAT cosmos is a pretty remarkable one. Category: Science. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2000, Oxford Univ. Press, 230p. index., $14.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Gloria Levine; EducationalWriter/M.S. Teacher, Potomac, MD SOURCE: KLIATT, March 2002 (Vol. 36, No. 2)
Ed Regis - The New York Times Book Review
Chock-full of the latest pseudoscientific hoaxes,
scams and cases of sheer foolishness. . . . Park
communicates a considerable amount of genuine
science in the process . . . Frequently droll and
invariably enlightening.
Paul Chance, PhD - Psychology Today
...if you are considering the purchase of an infinite energy machine, you should read Voodoo Science. Park gets to the essence of true scientific thinking without the mathematical formulas, then uses real-life examples to show how people (including scientists) are led astray by pseudoscience.
Leon Jaroff - Time Magazine
�lucid and often amusing analyses make a powerful case for rational thinking.
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