It’s worth $250 big ones.
[Afternoon update]
It’s worth $250 big ones.
[Afternoon update]
Yes, yes it is.
Some thoughts on its corruption.
It’s highly overrated, and I’d say that in the age of the Internet, you’ll get much more rapid identification of issues via crowdsourcing.
Those who did so regretted it.
Another review of the book:
The book’s subtitle is Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet, which gave me the impression I was about to start reading a hefty science book. There’s plenty of science in The Big Fat Surprise, but it’s more of a history book. It’s the story of how lousy science conducted by arrogant scientists and adopted by equally arrogant policymakers led to lousy decisions that produced lousy consequences. I doubt any Fat Heads out there still believe nutrition science is conducted by impartial researchers who aren’t already wedded to an outcome, but if so, reading this book will disabuse you of that notion. It’s all laid out here in a richly detailed story that runs 340 pages … the egos, the arrogance, the obsession with pursuing and (ahem) proving a single hypothesis, the scientific bullying, the corruption, and of course the ham-handed interference by the 900-pound gorilla known as the federal government.
Gee, in what other field have we seen that sort of thing?
It’s a mystery:
As one participating scientist points out, to miss the mark by so much means what we understand about the universe is fundamentally wrong. The universe continues to be exciting, a little scary, but mostly—a mystery.
And yet some have the hubris to tell us they can predict the temperature of the planet and level of the seas decades from now.
An attempt to educate a reporter at Slate. It’s actually sort of a fisking by email.
Is it a hoax?
It wouldn’t surprise me. I think all this outlawing of plastic bags is silly.
Are they partly heritable? This seems related to Jonathan Haidt’s work.
A fairly rigorous treatment, and correction of Michael Mann.