Book SummaryBad Science, by Ben Goldacre

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Bad Science

Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science is a 2008 popular science title that explains how researchers, health care companies, and mainstream media outlets use to mislead the public about medical treatments, often for profit. Goldacre is a medical doctor, a professor at Oxford University, and the author of multiple books on medicine, including Bad Pharma, an in-depth look into corruption in the pharmaceutical industry.

In Bad Science, Goldacre offers a variety of real-world...

Bad Science Summary Section One: Bad Methods

In this section, we’ll discuss the methods researchers use to manipulate their results and give you the tools to evaluate research methods yourself. Goldacre stresses that it’s important to understand and evaluate scientific literature so you can make informed health care decisions.

(Shortform note: Goldacre stresses the importance of improving your own science literacy. However, some studies argue that because low science literacy is a systemic problem, it requires systemic solutions. These studies suggest that the best way to combat scientific misinformation is by increasing the quality of K-12 science education rather than asking adults to educate themselves.)

Scientific trials should be evaluated on their methods, not their results. As we’ll show, by using manipulative methods, it’s possible to engineer whatever result you want. These kinds of manipulations often happen because of the economic pressure to produce and market new treatments. According to Goldacre, most medical research is funded by pharmaceutical companies, who in turn pressure researchers to produce results that help them get their drugs to...

Bad Science Summary Section Two: Bad Claims

Moving on from the level of individual studies, in this section we’ll learn how the alternative and mainstream health care industries use a variety of techniques to overstate the effectiveness of their treatments. As Goldacre notes, it’s important to identify and call out these techniques because companies sometimes use them to push ineffective, dangerous treatments to market. When you’re able to evaluate research results yourself, you can make more informed decisions and inform others, too.

The main strategies companies use to make their treatments seem more effective are selective publishing, cherry-picking positive results, and exaggerating based on surrogate outcomes. In this section we’ll explain how these techniques are used to make treatments seem more effective than they are and to conceal their sometimes dangerous side effects. As we describe these techniques, we’ll also give you the tools to spot them.

Marketing Drugs, Marketing Diseases

While Goldacre focuses on the techniques drug companies use to deceptively market their treatments, there’s another part of the process that isn’t addressed here. In addition to marketing drugs, [pharmaceutical...

Bad Science Summary Section Three: Bad Press

In this final section, we’ll cover the various ways mainstream media outlets misrepresent scientific findings to the public. According to Goldacre, errors in science reporting usually happen because publications prioritize profit, which leads them to pressure their reporters to generate the most exciting stories they can as quickly as possible. This pressure leads reporters to choose sensational stories, and leaves them little time to verify the accuracy of their reporting.

(Shortform note: As opposed to the profit motive, journalists argue that one of the main reasons for their errors is that they often have to report on evolving events. Journalists describe trying to balance getting information out quickly with taking enough time to gain a complete understanding of a topic. Naturally, they argue, this process involves some mistakes.)

Goldacre argues that it’s important for publications to accurately report medical findings because of their unique role in spreading ideas. Misinformation can undermine public health campaigns and lead individuals to make dangerous health...

Shortform Exercise: Design Your Own Study

Get familiar with the scientific method by designing an experiment.

Think of something you’d like to study. Ideally you should choose something you could realistically test and measure with your own expertise and without any expensive laboratory equipment. Briefly describe how you’d conduct your test and what results you’d expect. (For example, suppose you’d like to test the effect of different brands of fertilizer on plant growth. You could buy several seedlings of the same species and measure their growth against each other.)