This was a long and frankly, depressing book that I just couldn’t stop reading. In a sort of classic “can’t look away from the car accident” situation I turned each page and watched my hope for humanity run down the drain. There is some good news to find in this book, but it is few and far between.
The book does a great job of providing the deep background to this continuing attack on science. By weaponizing one of the characteristics of the scientific method (doubt and uncertainty) and then ignoring evidence and shouting nonsense enough times these (surprisingly few) people manage to sidetrack and delay measures that would save people’s lives, and cost their bosses a lot of money.
There is a lot of detail here – sort of like reading a legal brief – and in a sense the authors are prosecuting a case. There are times when I felt like they were cherry-picking information now and then, even as they accused others of doing the same. Overall they tell a story richly supported with evidence and with plenty of footnotes to follow up on for the curious.
I was very surprised that this book also included an updated epilogue written after Mr. Trump came to power and including some comments on the misinformation (from both sides) that we see now in the mass media and social network sites.
This was a bummer to read, simply because the forces of good were completely outmatched. I fear that with how sharply divided the USA is now, things won’t be getting better soon.
Next I’m reading (by coincidence) The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff.
