Summary of Ben Goldacre's Bad Science

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 Talking to people who disagree with me is one of my favorite activities. I constantly meet individuals who are eager to share their views on science, despite the fact that they have never done an experiment or seen the results of one.

#2 The Aqua Detox footbath is a detox footbath, one of many similar products. It has been promoted uncritically in some very embarrassing articles in the Telegraph, the Mirror, the Sunday Times, GQ magazine, and various TV shows.

#3 The water in the Barbie Detox bath goes brown due to electrolysis, a simple process where the iron electrodes rust and the brown rust goes into the water. There are no toxins in the water, just lots of brown, rusty iron.

#4 Some detox products now deny that toxins come out in the footbath, and claim that the water goes a bit brown without your feet in it. They also talk about the bioenergetic field and how stressful modern life is.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822507654

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Ben Goldacre's Bad Science

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Talking to people who disagree with me is one of my favorite activities. I constantly meet individuals who are eager to share their views on science, despite the fact that they have never done an experiment or seen the results of one.

#2

The Aqua Detox footbath is a detox footbath, one of many similar products. It has been promoted uncritically in some very embarrassing articles in the Telegraph, the Mirror, the Sunday Times, GQ magazine, and various TV shows.

#3

The water in the Barbie Detox bath goes brown due to electrolysis, a simple process where the iron electrodes rust and the brown rust goes into the water. There are no toxins in the water, just lots of brown, rusty iron.

#4

Some detox products now deny that toxins come out in the footbath, and claim that the water goes a bit brown without your feet in it. They also talk about the bioenergetic field and how stressful modern life is.

#5

The efficacy of Hopi Ear Candles has been cheerfully promoted by the media. However, there is no proof that ear candles draw toxins into the wax. Both experiments produced the same results: a waxy orange substance in the ear candle, and a waxy orange substance in the picnic table control.

#6

The detox foot patch is another example of the detox method. It is a brown sludge that you apply to your foot, and when you wake up the next morning, there is a strange-smelling, sticky brown sludge attached to the bottom of your foot. This sludge is said to be toxins.

#7

The detox phenomenon is a grandiose innovation of marketers, lifestyle gurus, and alternative therapists. It is a meaningless concept in terms of basic human biochemistry, but it is a cultural product that deliberately blends useful common sense with outlandish, medicalized fantasy.

#8

There is a clear and ubiquitous need for purification and redemption rituals, because we all do regrettable things as a result of our own circumstances. We seek redemption and purification from the more extreme forms of our material indulgence.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

Brain Gym is a pseudoscience that is prevalent in British state schools. It is a series of complicated and proprietary exercises for kids that enhance the experience of whole brain learning. But it is riddled with transparent, shameful and embarrassing nonsense.

#2

The same teacher who explains to your children how blood is pumped around the body by the heart also