Cover image for Bad advice : or why celebrities, politicians, and activists aren't your best source of health information
Bad advice : or why celebrities, politicians, and activists aren't your best source of health information
Title:
Bad advice : or why celebrities, politicians, and activists aren't your best source of health information
Author:
Offit, Paul A., author.
Personal Author:
Publication Information:
New York : Columbia University Press, [2018]
Physical Description:
xiv, 251 pages ; 24 cm
Summary:
A guide to taking on self-appointed activists and quack experts offers hard-earned wisdom on the dos and don'ts of battling misinformation, by a science and public health professional who has been on the frontline for twenty years.

Scientists are often unable to package their insights into the neat narratives that the public requires. Enter celebrities, advocates, lobbyists-- people taking advantage of scientists' reluctance to provide easy answers, flooding the media with misleading or incorrect claims about health risks. Offit shares hard-earned wisdom on the dos and don'ts of battling misinformation. He discusses the manias stoked by charlatans and their miracle cures, as well as corrosive, dangerous ideologies such as Holocaust and climate-change denial. -- adapted from jacket
Language:
English
Contents:
Prologue: On being naïve -- What science is -- and what it isn't -- White mice and windowless rooms -- An alibi for ignorance -- Feeding the beast -- To debate or not to debate -- Make 'em laugh -- Science goes to the movies -- The Emperor's new clothes -- Judgment Day -- The nuclear option -- Pharma shill -- A ray of hope -- Epilogue: The end of the tour.
ISBN:
9780231186988
Format :
Book