I’ve almost finished a blog post about everyone’s favourite topic, The Bachelorette, but in the mean time, here’s a picture of us two and Ben Goldacre:
This was taken just after his lecture in Birmingham for the British Science Festival a few weeks ago. For those of you who don’t know who he is, Ben Goldacre is a doctor, writes the Bad Science column in The Guardian every Saturday, runs a blog & forums at BadScience.net and has also released the amazingly unputdownable book …Bad Science.
In my list of 5 Books To Expand Your Mind, this is what I had to say about Bad Science:
Bad Science is your defence against a world of horse crap where everyone is trying to rip you off.
What it’s about: Confused about MMR jabs? Homoeopathy? Crystal healing? Fish oil? Then read this book.
Why it will expand your mind: You’ll learn the simplicity of the scientific method and why it’s so important to the world we live in. It will teach you to think for yourself and apply a healthy dose of scepticism to the next dose of health advice you might hear about from someone trying to sell you something. Not particularly mind expanding on its own, but it has a synergy with all the other books in this list.
There’s also a chapter from the book elsewhere on the blog: The Doctor Will Sue You Now.
The lecture itself was on “Drug Company Bullshit”, describing the various tricks big pharmaceutical companies perform in order to make their results look good, massage bad results or make them disappear entirely. Quite a dry, technical talk really, but what else should two troublemakers like us be doing on a Friday night in Birmingham?
Since science is obviously really important, if you’ve got a minute, please consider signing this petition trying to stop cuts in vital science funding.
Oh, and for anyone wondering about my awesome T-shirt, it has this to say:
