Bad Science

By: Ben Goldacre

Narrated by: Rupert Farley

Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

We are constantly bombarded with inaccurate, contradictory and sometimes misleading information - until now.

Ben Goldacre masterfully dismantles the dubious science behind some of the great drug trials, court cases, and missed opportunities of our time. He also shows us the fascinating story of how we know what we know, and gives us the tools to uncover bad science for ourselves.

©2008 Ben Goldacre (P)2010 WF Howes Ltd

A must read for anti-vaccers

Superbly narrated bringing the book alive and totally engaging despite what could be considered a somewhat dry topic. Poignant, subjective and relevant in this time of controversy and disinformation around Covid 19 vaccines and big pharma narrative. Ben Goldacre's call for scientists to take initiative and act to counter disinformation and poorly communicated scientific findings has never been more important.

Great content, engaging narration

What made the experience of listening to Bad Science the most enjoyable?

Dr. Goldacre leads us through a masterful educational experience that should vastly improve the scientific media literacy of any layperson listening to this book. More importantly, he blends this grave and potentially depressing content with a sense of humour that makes it not just bearable, but delightful!

What about Rupert Farley’s performance did you like?

I'm glad I wasn't dissuaded from listening to this by the reviews describing the narration as terrible, because I found the delivery delightful, and a perfect match for Goldacre's charming sarcastic tone.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I seldom have so much fun listening to accounts of terrible betrayals of the public trust.

Eyeopener

Ben Goldacre draws us into his world of science. His quest is to have you, the reader, able to identify bad science. A fine introduction to scientific method. Uses relevant examples, like the MMR vaccine scare. Rupert Farley has a pleasant narrating style. I really enjoyed this book.

Probably better in print

Would you consider the audio edition of Bad Science to be better than the print version?

I suspect the print version would be much better as the narration style is poorly suited to the material.

What three words best describe Rupert Farley’s performance?

Wrong for this

Really enjoyable

This book will tell you all you need to know about how to read and interrogate studies, statistics and academic advancements. I really liked the narrator and would recommend this book to all people who consider themselves academic, scientific or interested in the science of medical misreporting.

Great book, better in hard copy

This fascinating and persuasive book will give you loads of fodder for heated dinner party conversations. But I recommend that you buy the hard copy rather, for two reasons:
- the delivery of the narrator is excessively vehement, overbearing and forceful which doesn't match the tone the book is written in, and makes for painful listening, and
- it's the kind of book that you want to refer back to to verify a statistic or clarify a point, which is one of the rare occasions when I'd rather have a paper book than an audio book.

Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. It's just that I'll be buying several hard copies for myself and for general dishing out.

Uncomfortable and Enlightening

A book to make the world better, at least if everyone read/listened to it. I felt that maybe Rupert Farley made Dr Goldacre sound more condescending than he needed to. Other than that his narration grew on me. The book itself was (insofar as I'm any judge) excellent, impassioned, important, and thoroughly-researched. I've certainly had to re-think some of what I believed to be true. I do think that Dr Goldacre overstates the ability of the layperson to interpret studies, particularly given the length at which he describes the analytic land mines one can step on in trying. Nevertheless, in my opinion a great book.

important topic, chaotic drama, worst narrator

What did you like best about Bad Science? What did you like least?

The topic is important and the autor competent. The narrator wants to act, but he is the worst actor: tries to mock voices and exagerates the tones.

What did you like best about this story?

This is a comprehensive black book of the health and beauty industry. Not that it shows every single case but it rehears most of the mechanisms

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Rupert Farley?

anyone

Did Bad Science inspire you to do anything?

I will eat more vegetables and fruits and no vitamine pilles, because its the only real thing

Good content, painful narrator

I'm a skeptic at heart, so I enjoy this book. And I do think that as long as I wasn't a died-in-the-wool believer of some sort, but not necessarily a skeptic, I would get a lot out of this. It's absolutely amazing when you realize how much rubbish is successfully peddled these days and the more books we have with a solid basis in science instead of the next quick-fix diet, longevity potion, cancer cure etc, the better it is IMO. Only thing that I find quite trying listening to this is the narrator. Whatever sample they make available, have a listen and think if you can endure this for several hours... If I was more neutral about him, I'd definitely give this book a 4 or 5 star.