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Lies, Damned Lies, and Science: How to Sort through the Noise Around Global Warming, the Latest Health Claims, and Other Scientific Controversies 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by Sherry Seethaler (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 114 ratings
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“Comprehensive, readable, and replete with current, useful examples, this book provides a much-needed explanation of how to be a critical consumer of the scientific claims we encounter in our everyday lives.” —April Cordero Maskiewicz, Department of Biology, Point Loma Nazarene University   “Seethaler’s book helps the reader look inside the workings of science and gain a deeper understanding of the pathway that is followed by a scientific finding—from its beginnings in a research lab to its appearance on the nightly news.” —Jim Slotta, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto   “How I wish science was taught this way! Seethaler builds skills for critical thinking and evaluation. The book is rich with examples that not only illustrate her points beautifully, they also make it very interesting and fun to read.” —Julia R. Brown, Director, Targacept, Inc.   Don’t Get Hoodwinked! Make Sense of Health and Science News...and Make Smarter Decisions!   Every day, there’s a new scientific or health controversy. And every day, it seems as if there’s a new study that contradicts what you heard yesterday. What’s really going on? Who’s telling the truth? Who’s faking it? What do scientists actually know–and what don’t they know? This book will help you cut through the confusion and make sense of it all–even if you’ve never taken a science class! Leading science educator and journalist Dr. Sherry Seethaler reveals how science and health research really work...how to put scientific claims in context and understand the real tradeoffs involved...tell quality research from junk science...discover when someone’s deliberately trying to fool you...and find more information you can trust!  Nobody knows what new controversy will erupt tomorrow. But one thing’s for certain: With this book, you’ll know how to figure out the real deal–and make smarter decisions for yourself and your family!   Watch the news, and you’ll be overwhelmed by snippets of badly presented science: information that’s incomplete, confusing, contradictory, out-of-context, wrong, or flat-out dishonest. Defend yourself! Dr. Sherry Seethaler gives you a powerful arsenal of tools for making sense of science. You’ll learn how to think more sensibly about everything from mad cow disease to global warming—and how to make better science-related decisions in both your personal life and as a citizen.   You’ll begin by understanding how science really works and progresses, and why scientists sometimes disagree. Seethaler helps you assess the possible biases of those who make scientific claims in the media, and place scientific issues in appropriate context, so you can intelligently assess tradeoffs. You’ll learn how to determine whether a new study is really meaningful; uncover the difference between cause and coincidence; figure out which statistics mean something, and which don’t.   Seethaler reveals the tricks self-interested players use to mislead and confuse you, and points you to sources of information you can actually rely upon. Her many examples range from genetic engineering of crops to drug treatments for depression...but the techniques she teaches you will be invaluable in understanding any scientific controversy, in any area of science or health.   ^   Potions, plots, and personalities: How science progresses, and why scientists sometimes disagree ^   Is it “cause” or merely coincidence? How to tell compelling evidence from a “good story” ^   There are always tradeoffs: How to put science and health claims in context, and understand their real implications ^   All the tricks experts use to fool you, exposed! How to recognize lies, “truthiness,” or pseudo-expertise
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  1. ISBN-13
    978-0137155224
  2. Edition
    1st
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    FT Press
  5. Publication date
    January 13, 2009
  6. Language
    English
  7. File size
    1288 KB
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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A much-needed guide to implementing effective assessment practices in today’s increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms.

 

Who should be the focus of assessment?

Where should assessment efforts for CLD students be concentrated?

What should be the key purposes of assessments for CLD students?

When should teachers time appropriate classroom assessment practices for CLD students?

How should teachers best use the findings of CLD student assessment?

 

These questions are the focus of this highly practical, classroom-ready resource that helps teachers implement effective classroom assessment practices and determine how to organize recommended strategies around the four critical dimensions of the CLD (culturally and/or linguistically diverse) students in their classes: the sociocultural, linguistic, academic, and cognitive dimensions.

 

Written from the perspective of a differential lens on assessment practices for CLD students, the book is designed to guide pre- and in-service K-12 classroom teachers as they successfully differentiate assessment practices for diverse student populations. In addition, it provides readers with an invaluable glimpse into actual teachers’ classrooms as they use assessment strategies to meet the needs of diverse learners. This new edition features:

  • The most up-to-date research and strategies for effectively assessing CLD students, especially English Language Learners
  • An emphasis on how theory and research are brought to life within individual classrooms and through teachers’ efforts at serving their unique students’ needs
  • Additional resources for helping teachers develop authentic tools for assessing linguistic and academic growth among CLD learners

About the Author

Sherry Seethaler, a science writer and educator at the University of California, San Diego, works with scientists to explain their discoveries to the public. She also writes a column for the San Diego Union-Tribune answering readers’ questions about science. Seethaler holds an M.S. and Master of Philosophy in biology from Yale, and a Ph.D. in science and math education from UC Berkeley.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B001QL5MZ0
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ FT Press; 1st edition (January 13, 2009)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 13, 2009
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1288 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Up to 5 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 290 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 114 ratings

About the author

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Sherry Seethaler

Sherry Seethaler

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I am a science writer and educator at the University of California, San Diego. For many years, I wrote the weekly science "Questions Answered" column for the San Diego Union-Tribune, in which I answered readers' questions spanning nearly every imaginable science topic from "Why do I sneeze when I look toward the sun?" to "Is a lightsaber possible?" to "Is one horsepower really equal to the power of one horse?" to "Why do lizards do push-ups" to "What causes out-of-body experiences?" That last question really does fall under the purview of science! You can read the answers to these and 345 other questions in my books, Curious Folks Ask: 162 Real answers on amazing inventions, fascinating products, and medical mysteries (FT Press Science) and Curious Folks Ask 2: 188 Real answers on our fellow creatures, our planet, and beyond (FT Press Science).

My passion is to help people rediscover the wonder about science that we all shared as children, before we had concluded that science meant facts to be memorized from a textbook. Back then science meant bugs and slugs, trees and seas, stars and scars, rocks and… (well, you get the picture). Science is also a way of approaching problems and a way of thinking about the world that we can each apply to making better reasoned health, political and consumer decisions. Unfortunately, precollege and even college science classes fail to teach us how to do this. To fill that gap, my book Lies, Damned Lies, and Science: How to sort through the noise around global warming, the latest health claims, and other scientific controversies (FT Press Science) is an empowering yet palatable set of tools for making sense of the health and science-related issues we encounter in our daily lives.

After publishing Lies, Damned Lies, and Science, I began working toward the complementary goal of teaching and writing about communication. Too often the blame for not understanding information or for not following recommendations is placed on the individual on the receiving end of the communication. Yet, the problem often lies with flawed assumptions about what constitutes effective communication, and the concomitant failure to communicate in a way that supports reasoning. My most recent book (University of Toronto Press, 2024) is a research-based guide to improve communication about science, health, the environment and more.

I earned a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and chemistry from the University of Toronto, a Master of Science and a Master of Philosophy in biology from Yale University and a Doctor of Philosophy in science and mathematics education from the University of California, Berkeley, and I have published peer-reviewed articles in both science education and science communication. When I am not working (and sometimes even when I am), you will find me outdoors enjoying nature.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
114 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Book Shark
5.0 out of 5 stars A Truthful Review
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2011
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Lies, Damned Lies and Science: How to sort through the noise around global warming, the latest health claims, and other scientific controversies by Dr. Sherry Seethaler

"Lies, Damned Lies and Science" is a book about critical thinking in the everyday use of science. The book helps lay people understand how science works and how to put scientific claims in the proper context. This 224-page book is composed of the following ten chapters: 1. Potions, plot, personalities: understand how science progresses and why scientists sometimes disagree, 2. Who's who?: identify those who hold stake in an issue and what their positions are, 3. Decisions, decisions: elucidate all the pros and cons of a decision, 4. Compare and contrast: place alternatives in an appropriate context to evaluate tradeoffs, 5. What happens if...?: distinguish between cause and coincidence, 6.Specific or general: recognize how broadly the conclusions from a study may be applied, 7. Fun figures: see through the number jumble, 8. Society's say: discern the relationships between science and policy, 9. All the tricks in the book: get past the ploys designed to simply bypass logic, and 10. Fitting the pieces together: know how to seek information to gain a balanced perspective.

Positives:
1. A well-written and accessible book that teaches us how to think critically about scientific claims.
2. Dr. Seethaler explains the basics of science and does so with ease. It's a testament to her prodigious knowledge of science and most importantly her ability to relay such knowledge to the masses.
3. As an accomplished educator, Dr. Seethaler makes use of multiple tools to convey her thoughts: graphs, charts, lists and accessible prose backed by supporting references.
4. The "true" scientific method.
5. Climate models.
6. Great practical examples throughout.
7. An interesting look at how scientific disputes are resolved.
8. The understanding of "pseudosymmetry of scientific authority" which is the fallacy committed by the media in which they portray scientists evenly divided between two points of view, when in reality that is not the case.
9. The all-important peer-reviewed scientific process.
10. Many hot political topics involving science discussed: Global warming, genetically engineered food, mad cow disease...to name a few.
11. Putting things in proper scientific context.
12. The differences between experimental and non-experimental studies.
13. Why certain animals and even fruit flies are studied.
14. A lot of interesting tidbits throughout the book.
15. The Gambler's Fallacy.
16. Confirmation bias...
17. Beware of vague claims and why you should.
18. Honestly where would science be without evolution?
19. How to be critical without being cynical. Excellent point.
20. The truth about why DDT was banned.
21. An excellent chapter on the twenty essential applications of the tools.
22. Links worked great!
23. Very helpful and useful list of links. Thank you.

Negatives:
1. Risk factors were not defined to my satisfaction.
2. Scientists will find this book fairly basic because it is intended for the masses.
3. I would have liked a summary chart of sorts that listed the main scientific topics and what the scientific consensus is versus the perception.

In summary, I highly recommend this book to the general public but in particular to science educators. This is a very useful and important book. Dr. Seathaler accomplishes her goal of educating the public by providing a useful toolkit to critically assess science information obtained from the media and other popular sources.

Recommendations: "Merchants of Doubt..." by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, "Science Under Siege..." Kendrick Frazier, "Why People Believe Weird Things..." by Michael Shermer, "Science Matters..." Robert M. Hazen and James Trefil, and "and "Idiot America..." by Charles P. Pierce.
13 people found this helpful
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William Mead
4.0 out of 5 stars A definite "should read"!
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2011
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Lies, Damned Lies, and Science: How to Sort through the Noise around Global Warming, the Latest Health Claims, and Other Scientific Controversies  discusses the workings and failings of the societal systems that fund, pursue, report, and use results of scientific research. Dr. Seethaler discusses broadly some typical methodologies of medical, biological, and physical research and the ways in which research results can be applied properly (and improperly) to making science- and technology-related policy decisions. She presents, in a clear and accessible way, a toolkit that can help the reader to better monitor and guide such decisions. She illustrates the tools' use in the context of a number of recent and current examples.

I consider this a very good book on an important subject. I would say, "You (with a few exceptions noted below) should read this book!" I'd go even farther here, and suggest that this book (or material of similar scope and quality) should serve as a source for a required (high-school or college) course in "Science and Society, 101". The only people who should not read this book are those who 1) have firmly decided that science is irrelevant to life in this world; 2) do not or will not have any role in setting science- and tech-related policies; 3) do not care what kind of life they and their offspring will have in the future; or 4) are already thoroughly familiar with the subject.

As a physicist with 30+ years' experience in research, I (naturally) find a few ways in which the book might be improved. For example, I think the book falls a little short on discussing how theory, numerical modeling, and experiment fit together in physical science research. Also, a somewhat more extensive and deeper discussion of "Global Warming" or one other substantial (but slightly less heated?) case could be helpful.

Did I mention that I found the book an enjoyable read?

The Kindle edition was well done, though I consider the nominal $10 price of eBooks to be too high.
17 people found this helpful
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Rose
5.0 out of 5 stars Science Education - It is Disciplined Thinking
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2009
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Sound bite information has replaced solid data based reporting. Sorting through "science backed" claims and counter claims can lead people to unreasonable conclusions. Or worse, in the public sector, policy makers embark on paths that are not fruitful or in the best interest of the public. Lies, Damned Lies and Science provides illustrative examples of where science is used, misused or simple not understood. But more importantly, it provides some tools and a basic structure for thinking about the "science backed" information we get thrown at us. This book should be read by all City/County Officials to understand and weigh the information being provided in some many of the decisions they are required to make.
4 people found this helpful
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SingleEyePhotos
3.0 out of 5 stars Critical Thinking is a Necessity
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2011
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I've read a few of the author's other books on science, and enjoyed them. I thought she had a good knack for explaining difficult concepts clearly and concisely so that a layman could understand them. I was hoping that this book would be more of the same, but it wasn't. Instead of basically debunking incorrect information about popular 'hot-button' scientific issues, she tries to show how the layperson needs to use critical thinking to determine how credible the information in popular media is. This is definitely a useful book and gives great insight into what goes on 'behind the scenes' in preparing to announce scientific discoveries, but it still leaves the reader needing to do the thinking themselves. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

This book was 'dryer' than the others I read, and seemed to drag occasionally, but generally it was well-written and informative, but not a 'light reading' book as were her 'Curious Folks Ask..." books.

Note on Kindle formatting: Very good. No obvious issues were noted.
13 people found this helpful
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S. C.
5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2023
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Just what I ordered
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Top reviews from other countries

George Poirier
5.0 out of 5 stars Scientific Findings: A Useful Guide for Everyone
Reviewed in Canada on March 24, 2009
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Written by a science educator, this excellent book presents a very logical and level-headed overview of the scientific process, scientific findings and the often confusing aftermath. The author discusses how results from scientific research are presented and how they may be interpreted - by other scientists, by the media, by various stakeholders, etc. The reader is coached on how to be cautious when seemingly extraordinary scientific claims are made and by whom. One learns which questions are the right ones to ask. A few examples are as follows: Is this finding the result of coincidence or an actual cause and effect relationship? Who is making the claim and what do they have to gain from this finding? Is the study large enough, e.g., enough data, to inspire confidence in the validity of the results? Throughout this well-written book, useful real-life cases are discussed as examples to illustrate the author's points. Through these examples, the reader can also get a feel for how science really works. The writing style is authoritative, accessible, clear, friendly and engaging. This enjoyable book can be used as a guide by anyone who wants solid, down-to-earth advice on how to make sense of the many scientific claims that so often make the headlines.
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B. W. Jackson
4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent handbook for dealing with the current epidemic of hysteria
Reviewed in Canada on April 17, 2009
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Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the PoorExtraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World
It has been said that the current generation of mankind is the healthiest, longest living and the most terrified in the history of mankind. We are however constantly being beset by the claims of organic gardeners, the apocalytic global warming machine, cancer from asbestos, the fear of frankenfoods, the presence of a miniscule amount of BPA ( two parts per billion would you believe) in pop can soda. The list goes on and on. Rachael Carson the Godess of the Environmental movement was as a result of an unintended consequence responsible for the death of many more people mainly women and children as a result of a misguided misrepresentation of the dangers of DDT and a decision of people in the west that ignored the problems in Africa.
Seethhalter's book is a very good review of the many stakeholders involved in these current issues, it deals well with the issue of statistics (the title of the book is a direct takeoff of the term Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics) and how they can be used to promote different sides of a story. The reality of trade-offs is well covered as well.
As an Engineering Educator I was particularly interested in this book as I firmly believe that our students must be made aware of the necessity of digging through the media junk, and all the warnings of the various stakeholders in order to arrive at well reasoned opinions. To be sucessful in a professional career this is a most necessary skill.
Again as an Engineering educator I am impressed with the well done description of the place of science in all these issues. Before the process of heat generated by the decay of radioactive materials in the earth's core was discovered one of the greatest scientists of the day Lord Kelvin was able to prove that the earth would soon ( in geological time) be uninhabitable becasue of the rate of cooling. That is how science works and is its greatest strenght
2 people found this helpful
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Maria
4.0 out of 5 stars sort the truth from the lies
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 8, 2011
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A scientific aid to understanding how to analyse what we are being told by rather than just believing or disbelieving. It covers the reasons we are being told & the way we can use the information to make our own choices. The author points out how it can affect us personally & globally & that as usual there is always another side to almost everything & to be aware that there are often unintentioned consequences to what can seem the most genuine aims to help. It was a bit too involved for me at times but it is certainly a viewpoint that is very rarely expressed & a subject that needs to be now with so much information being thrown at us. Well worth reading.
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Mitchell
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in Canada on November 21, 2017
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Very good book to read! I highly recommend it. The author normally mentions things that we don't normally think about and it really helps educate us and allow us to gain more knowledge.
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Stuart
3.0 out of 5 stars Useful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2013
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A handy reference book to bear in mind when considering the claims and counterclaims surrounding advances in science and technology. Clearly written by someone with experience.
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