I think this is pretty much a collection of columns he wrote for the Guardian - he did that until about 2010(?) so I think I probably read them all at the time. Consequently the essays are very short (a couple of minutes reading) but they're collected by theme which makes it a bit easier to follow.

Goldacre does just what you'd hope a scientist would do: examines evidence, cites the sources of his evidence, and presents information with qualifications where appropriate

I read this over several months, just dipping into it every so often. It's all pretty good, and what you'd expect. Seems like I didn't highlight very much, just

• Mortality from methadone is higher than for heroin. and "It is generally recognised that methadone is a more addictive drug than heroin, with a more arduous withdrawal process"
• Research has repeatedly shown that people change their health behaviour in response to what they read in the media, and just this month, the World Cancer Research Fund commissioned a survey from YouGov: a proper survey, in a representative sample, from a reputable data collector, where anyone is allowed to see the questions and the results. Half of all respondents said they thought scientists and doctors were constantly changing their minds about healthy-living advice, although in reality healthy-living advice hasn’t changed at all for at least a decade (don’t smoke, do some exercise, eat more fruit and veg). And a quarter of all respondents said that because scientists keep changing their minds, you might as well eat whatever you want, because it won't make any difference anyway.
• talking about the MMR scare, and how vaccine related panics seem to be more cultural than evidence based: "In France [...] there was a significant scare during the 1990s that a hepatitis B vaccine caused multiple sclerosis"
• Talking about the media's presentation of suicide: "Overdoses increased by 17 per cent in the week after a prominent overdose on Casualty (watched by 22 per cent of the British population at the time), and paracetamol overdoses went up by more than others"

When kindle was telling me I was 70% through the book, I was surprised to come to the end. But what was left was a ton of references. He does practise what he preaches.

Completed : 6-Apr-2019