Michael Specter

This book was well worth the read. Having read it from the library, I've just bought a copy to lend to a few acquaintances with whom I've had past discussions touching on topics here. I feel I've never been able to really convey what the problems with 'Denialism' are in our discussions/arguments (and, of course, I didn't have 280 pages to do it in.) I hope that an easily accessible book like this will help, in part, because it covers a range of issues: amongst my circle, at least, no one is all of anti-vaxxer/pill-popper/anti-GMO/anti-pesticide/etc. By addressing these side by side perhaps the parallels between what a reader might consider bunk and what the same reader might believe will be visible, helping them to reflect on their own beliefs.

Here's hoping...

I knocked one star off because I wish the book had kept focused on things that are right now, that we know about; the last few 10's of pages range off into future biotech. That is all important, true, but it distracts from the discussion about current issues. I think, for some people, it will interfere with considering the facts we know now. E.g. we *know* that vaccines are safe, for any real-world meaning of that word, and we know that have immense benefits *right now*. Following that (and other) arguments with a few chapters about future developments in genetic engineering or synthetic biology weakens all that; people who don't already support the positions in the book will be left with their uncertainties about future directions and outcomes of research, rather than with strong arguments about the certainties around current issues.

I could possibly knock off one more star because the book does cover things *so* rapidly, at a high level of detail. It could also have been written a bit more dispassionately. But, in this case anyway, those are just my own my tastes; this is an argumentative/persuasive pop-sci book, not a book written for scientists, policy wonks, etc. Hopefully this can get a few people thinking.… (altro)

Fall 2020 (October);

This book was so eye-opening in so many ways. I have already always understood what was at stake in our country, with the denials and muting of Tony Fauci, but this gave me an even deeper understanding of just how much he should have been listened to. Not only that, the number of decades he's done this job and how many presidents have listened to/relied on him and how many plagues he has already seen us through in his five decades leading this field.

I believe in him even deeper and I'm even more tragically saddened for what's happened to him and his family this year.… (altro)