Bad Science is a book I struggled with because of it's structure and style, certainly not because of it's content. I would recommend every parent with the ability to actually read more than just a headline, to read the chapter on the MMR hoax (that's the accusation that the Measles, Mumps and Rubella shot caused Autism in some cases - which is baseless) and despair at the state of the media.
The information is fascinating, but Ben does belabour points, repeat himself, is endlessly sarcastic and bitter (for good reasons you understand by the end) and refers to things before you've been given any information on them. That makes it hard to read. But it should be read, because it's so much information that we need to know, the information that headlines, press releases and statistics (manipulated ones) does not afford the reader.
Big Pharmaceutical is evil, this we know alongside the incompetence of almost any complex organisations (government, media, hospitals et al...). Things we did not know abound in the book. The expert behind that MRSA scandal was unaccredited, inexperienced and runing his laboratory in a garden shed. No one could replicate his results, but he was paid and lauded by people who should have known better.
Last book of 2010 - something a little more light-hearted for 2011 next, maybe.
We'll see.
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