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Voodoo Science : The Road from Foolishness to Fraud by Robert L. Park (2000,...
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Condition:
Very Good
A book that has been read but is in excellent condition. No obvious damage to the cover, with the dust jacket included for hard covers. No missing or damaged pages, no creases or tears, and no underlining/highlighting of text or writing in the margins. May be very minimal identifying marks on the inside cover. Very minimal wear and tear.
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US $5.22 (approx RM 21.99) USPS Media MailTM.
Located in: Hartsville, South Carolina, United States
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eBay item number:276139922013
Item specifics
- Condition
- ISBN
- 9780195135152
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Oxford University Press, Incorporated
ISBN-10
0195135156
ISBN-13
9780195135152
eBay Product ID (ePID)
1669466
Product Key Features
Book Title
Voodoo Science : the Road from Foolishness to Fraud
Number of Pages
240 Pages
Language
English
Topic
Philosophy & Social Aspects, General
Publication Year
2000
Genre
Science
Format
Hardcover
Dimensions
Item Height
1 in
Item Weight
17.6 Oz
Item Length
9.1 in
Item Width
6.2 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
99-040911
Dewey Edition
21
Reviews
"I would like to make this book compulsory reading for medical students in their first year ... With brilliant insight and clarity of prose, [Park] describes the inevitable consequences of a debate between the true believer and sceptics ... This book was a joy and an entertainment."--Healthwatch Newsletter, "I would like to make this book compulsory reading for medical students in their first year ... With brilliant insight and clarity of prose, [Park] describes the inevitable consequences of a debate between the true believer and sceptics ... This book was a joy and an entertainment."-- Healthwatch Newsletter, "Science, as Richard Feynmann suggested, is what we have learned about how not to fool ourselves. There are few--far too few--accomplished scientists, skilled writers, who care greatly about the ways in which people DO fool themselves. Pseudoscience, anti-science, and simple fraud arefrighteningly popular and dangerous ways, today, of fooling ourselves about reality. Professor Park is one of those who understand the scams and take the trouble to expose them. Voodoo Science is a powerful but readable assemblage of his findings and ideas."--Paul Gross, University Professor ofLife Sciences, University of Virginia, and co-author of Higher Superstition, "New discoveries in science and technology have not only fueled an explosive economy but also have provided unheard-of opportunities to those who would mislead the public wither through their own naivete or downright guile. The snake oil business is alive and well. Fortunately, we have asuperb scientist to strip away the mumbo jumbo of these fraudulent schemers and reveal them for what they are. It is frightening to read how successful some of these purveyors of nonsense have been, even in the highest reaches of our government. All of us can thank Park for saving us fromourselves."-Val L. Fitch, Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor and Chairman, Department of Physics, Princeton University, Ex-President of the American Physical Society, Nobel Laureate in physics, "In Voodoo Science, Robert Parks demonstrates how even science itself sometimes gets put in the service of delusion and self-delusion. From Star Wars to cold fusion, EMFs to UFOs, these dipatches from the front lines of scientific foolishness reveal how the things we want to believe oftenkeep us from learning the things we need to know."-K.C. Cole, author of the bestseller The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty, "Bob Park, part urbane physicist, part scrappy Texan, is a national resource. He's been observing scientists and their wannabes and their hustlers for decades, with the unblinking eye of his trade, and now he tells us what he's seen, with the narrative cadence of Will Rogers and theblunt-lucid prose of Hemingway. As he crafts his fascinating tales of pride and sham and delusion, he invites us as well to contemplate human nature in its struggle to make sense of, and find a context in, this astonishing universe. I couldn't put it down."-Ursula Goodenough, Professor of Biology,Washington University, and author of The Secret Depths of Nature, "I would like to make this book compulsory reading for medical students in their first year ... With brilliant insight and clarity of prose, [Park] describes the inevitable consequences of a debate between the true believer and sceptics ... This book was a joy and an entertainment."--HealthwatchNewsletter, "Television producers and newspaper editors have convinced themselves of a cowardly myth: that paranormalism may be drivel, but you have to serve it up because 'people' enjoy it more than its debunking. Professor Park does more than debunk, he crucifies. And the result is huge fun. Ifinished this brilliant book within a day, and then felt such withdrawal symptoms I went right back to the beginning and started again. Not only will you enjoy reading it. You'll never again waste time or your money on astrologers, 'quantum healers', homeopaths, spoonbenders, perpetual motionmercahnts or alien abduction fantasists."-Richard Dawkins, Charles Simonyi Professor for the Understanding of Science, Oxford University, and author of Unweaving the Rainbow, "Few books have had the impact on my thinking of Charles Mackay's Extrordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, published more than 150 years ago. It taught me that massive numbers of individuals have fallen victim to bizarre manias. Professor Park's Voodoo Science teaches usthat, even in this age of science, it is still happening. My enthusiasm for this book leads me to recommend it, without reservation, to the intellectual community and The Rest of Us. Long life to Robert Park and his fellow thinkers who, sometimes with little profit to themselves, are so willing andable to lead us out of what I call 'dumbth.'"--Steve Allen, author and TV personality, "Science, as Richard Feynmann suggested, is what we have learned about how not to fool ourselves. There are few-far too few-accomplished scientists, skilled writers, who care greatly about the ways in which people DO fool themselves. Pseudoscience, anti-science, and simple fraud arefrighteningly popular and dangerous ways, today, of fooling ourselves about reality. Professor Park is one of those who understand the scams and take the trouble to expose them. Voodoo Science is a powerful but readable assemblage of his findings and ideas."-Paul Gross, University Professor ofLife Sciences, University of Virginia, and co-author of Higher Superstition, "Few books have had the impact on my thinking of Charles Mackay's Extrordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, published more than 150 years ago. It taught me that massive numbers of individuals have fallen victim to bizarre manias. Professor Park's Voodoo Science teaches usthat, even in this age of science, it is still happening. My enthusiasm for this book leads me to recommend it, without reservation, to the intellectual community and The Rest of Us. Long life to Robert Park and his fellow thinkers who, sometimes with little profit to themselves, are so willingand able to lead us out of what I call 'dumbth.'"-Steve Allen, author and TV personality
Dewey Decimal
509/.73
Synopsis
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., This book examines the social, economic, and political forces that elicit or support flawed or fake science and sustain it in the face of often overwhelming contrary evidence. "Voodoo Science" is intended to include pseudoscience, or irrational beliefs dressed up in scientific guard, the misuse of science to deliberately mislead or confuse, and pathological science, in which scientists persist with their interpretations long after the evidence has decisively ruled against them in the perspective of an objective observer. The book attempts to delineate the contexts in which fraud can arise in science, and also to assess the trends in the public's ability to assess scientific issues and integrate scientific understanding in their judgements and world view., 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 SpaceStation, 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 youdon'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 tofail, 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 whatis 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.
LC Classification Number
Q175.52.U5P37 2000
Item description from the seller
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Seller feedback (1,046)
- 2***b (623)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseHard to find item quickly shipped right to my mailbox. Perfect! Thanks very much!
- e***k (2490)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseFine classic headset & delivery... Thanks!
- o***a (281)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseVery fast shipping and packaged well. As described, great value.