Good Science, Bad Science, Pseudoscience, and Just Plain Bunk

How to Tell the Difference

By (author) Peter A. Daempfle

Publication date:

19 December 2012

Length of book:

280 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442217263

We are constantly bombarded with breaking scientific news in the media, but we are almost never provided with enough information to assess the truth of these claims. Does drinking coffee really cause cancer? Does bisphenol-A in our tin can linings really cause reproductive damage? Good Science, Bad Science, Pseudoscience, and Just Plain Bunk teaches readers how to think like a scientist to question claims like these more critically.

Peter A. Daempfle introduces readers to the basics of scientific inquiry, defining what science is and how it can be misused. Through provocative real-world examples, the book helps readers acquire the tools needed to distinguish scientific truth from myth. The book celebrates science and its role in society while building scientific literacy.

List of Figures

Preface

I. Science Tools

1: Introduction

2: Science is Arguing

3: Tools Scientists Use

4: Science for Every Person

5: The Role of Critical Thinking

II. Science in Everyday Life

6 : The Media

7: Pseudoscience

8: Debunking Science Myths: Separating Fact from Fluff

9: What are Scientists’ Responsibilities?

III. Science: Threats or Compromises

10: Science Progress

11: Getting People to Love Science

12: Driving the Economy through Science

Acknowledgments
About the Author
Glossary
Index

Daempfle describes the scientific method and critical thinking in Good Science, Bad Science, Pseudoscience, and Just Plain Bunk. . . . The author's goal is to show readers 'how to think like a scientist,' enhance science literacy, and illustrate the use and misuse of science. Case studies are included throughout the text. After the introduction, subsequent chapters describe arguing in the evaluation of science and science information; scientific tools; and championing science and scientific thinking for all people. Further discussions address critical thinking; media influence; pseudoscience; and science myths. Later chapters address the responsibilities of scientists in terms of ethics and in communication; challenges; raising the status of scientists and scientific careers; and science as an economic driver. . . . [It] will interest high school and college science students and their families and teachers. Summing Up: Recommended. All undergraduate students, high school students, general readers, and science educators.