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Making sense of science : separating substance from spin / Cornelia Dean.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017Copyright date: ©2017Description: xi, 281 pages ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780674059696
  • 0674059697
Subject(s):
Contents:
We the people -- What we know, and what we don't know -- The belief engine -- Thinking about risk -- The research enterprise -- What is science? -- How science knows what it knows -- Models -- A jury of peers -- Things go wrong -- Misconduct -- Science in court -- Researchers and journalists -- The universal solvent -- A matter of money -- Selling health -- What's for supper? -- Political science -- Constituency of ignorance -- The political environment -- Taking things on faith.
Summary: Cornelia Dean draws on her 30 years as a science journalist with the New York Times to expose the flawed reasoning and knowledge gaps that handicap readers when they try to make sense of science. She calls attention to conflicts of interest in research and the price society pays when science journalism declines and funding dries up.-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 500 D281 Available 33111008572725
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"I'm not a scientist" is a familiar refrain among people asked to evaluate scientific claims they feel are beyond their ken. Most citizens learn about science from media coverage, and even the most conscientious reporters sometimes struggle to offer a clear, unbiased explanation to readers. Politicians, activists, business spokespersons, and religious leaders with their own agendas to pursue also influence the way science is reported and discussed. Meanwhile, anyone seeking factual information on climate change, vaccine safety, risk of terrorist attack, or other topics in the news must sift through an avalanche of bogus assertions and self-interested spin.

Making Sense of Science seeks to equip nonscientists with a set of critical tools to evaluate the scientific claims and controversies that shape our lives. Cornelia Dean draws on thirty years of experience as a science journalist with the New York Times to expose the flawed reasoning and knowledge gaps that handicap readers with little background in science. Shortcomings in K-12 education are partly to blame, but so too is the public's indifference to the way science is done and communicated. Dean shows how venues such as courtrooms and talk shows become fonts of scientific misinformation. She also calls attention to the conflicts of interest that color scientific research, as well as the price society pays when science journalism declines and government funding for research dries up.

Timely and provocative, Making Sense of Science warns us all that we can no longer afford to make a virtue of our collective scientific ignorance.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Cornelia Dean draws on her 30 years as a science journalist with the New York Times to expose the flawed reasoning and knowledge gaps that handicap readers when they try to make sense of science. She calls attention to conflicts of interest in research and the price society pays when science journalism declines and funding dries up.-- Provided by publisher.

We the people -- What we know, and what we don't know -- The belief engine -- Thinking about risk -- The research enterprise -- What is science? -- How science knows what it knows -- Models -- A jury of peers -- Things go wrong -- Misconduct -- Science in court -- Researchers and journalists -- The universal solvent -- A matter of money -- Selling health -- What's for supper? -- Political science -- Constituency of ignorance -- The political environment -- Taking things on faith.

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