Merchants Of Doubt: How A Handful Of Scientists Obscured The Truth On Issues From Tobacco Smoke To Global Warming (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
A very well-researched book of science history with a focus on environmental issues related to atmospheric chemistry and climate. A few things would have improved it: 1) Inclusion of some examples in which academic science has been motivated by the wrong reasons to create more balance. It reads as very one sided with Singer et al as villains and all academic scientists as good guys. Would be more interesting and presumably more widely read to hear about good and bad on both sides, such as the "Climategate" in 2009. Merchants of Doubt was published in 2010, after Climategate, so there's no reason for it not to have be included. 2) Reorganization in chronological order: start with the Rachel Carson story, then the 2 tobacco stories, then acid rain, ozone, and climate change instead of going back and forth in time. The recent Rachel Carson criticisms could have been left out. It would have been more interesting to hear about the original Carson criticisms. 3) Inclusion of more examples of primary data that should drive the story instead of majority rules. Let the data drive the story. The book did a good job of this at times, but I would have liked to see more reprints of the original "smoking gun" data in each story. 4) Major editing of extraneous details. The book could easily have been 1/2 the length and have told the same story more strongly. I read this book after a friend of mine commented, during a conversation we had where Rachel Carson was mentioned, that scientists "had proven that she was wrong about DDT and that her science was flawed." I was surprised by this because it has been such a long time since the book was published. I knew that Carson had been viciously attacked by some people when the book first came out but I thought the reasoning behind her book had since become completely accepted and who could get so mad at Rachel? This question rolled around in the back of my mind for a while and one day I decided to google "current attacks on Rachel Carson". Imagine my surprise when I found articles claiming that Rachel Carson was responsible for "killing more people than Hitler" and that her ban on DDT was responsible for "millions and millions" of deaths from malaria. I poked around a bit more and discovered this book "Merchants of Doubt". What a fascinating read. This book is well organized, well written, and extremely well annotated and footnoted within an inch of its life. As the title indicates, it takes the reader on an historical journey from the controversy surrounding tobacco smoke (is it really carcinogenic?), through the controversy around acid rain (does it really exist?), the controversy around the Star Wars project (it is possible to win a nuclear war and there is no such thing as nuclear winter) through to global warming (there is no such thing and if there were it would be a natural occurrence anyway). During the course of the previously mentioned conversation with my friend, we had both come to the conclusion that we didn't know anything about science and you couldn't trust anything scientists said because there were always other scientists saying the exact opposite. This book is an absolute must read for anyone who has ever allowed that thought to pass through their mind. The book gives a very clear explanation about how scientific research develops, the peer review process, the investigation by other scientists that may lead to modification of original research, and a final consensus in the scientific community. It explains very clearly how individual scientists can demand "fair play" air time and publication rights to deny scientific consensus on the above named subjects much as Holocaust deniers continue to claim today. Again, a must read for anyone who has ever been blinded by science on important issues of today.
What do You think about Merchants Of Doubt: How A Handful Of Scientists Obscured The Truth On Issues From Tobacco Smoke To Global Warming (2010)?
Well-argued and well-written, this book is perfect for anyone who loves and defends science.
—gibbard
Excellent read. Confirms that big business will go to great lengths to distort facts.
—Danielle
Important and eye opening, but very dry and somewhat repetitive.
—Shenika
A must-read for anyone with a modicum of intelligence...
—mari
