The Science Behind the Debates

By: Scientific American

Narrated by: Erin Bennett

Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

People say that they trust scientists, yet evidence often takes a back seat to emotions. In fact, for issues that cause the loudest public furor - like vaccine safety - there is almost no debate in the scientific community. This audiobook examines the science behind today’s most contentious debates - including gun control, GMOs, and evolution, as well as strategies for understanding and coping with denialism.

©2019 Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. Scientific American is a registered trademark of Nature America, Inc. (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Ignore the title

This book is a series of very short articles by intellectuals (including some names you may have heard of like Michael Shermer and Paul Offit) gawking at the beliefs of people who doubt global warming and believe in homeopathy, vaccines causing autism and alien encounters. It tackles the same topics over and over and really does not go into new detail on any of the topics. I got the book to get insight into why people see the same data and come to differing conclusions and why some people ignore or run from data. There is basically none of that. Just smart people feeling superior. Don't get me wrong- their positions are correct- they are extremely and obviously correct each time- but this is not helpful and has NOTHING to do with the science of debates. It will not make your debates more civil nor will it give you important information. It might be a good book for people who are into this sort of thing- they are smart people talking about science, just not what was advertised