Good Science, Bad Science, Pseudoscience, and Just Plain Bunk: How to Tell the Difference [Hardcover]

We are constantly bombarded with breaking scientific news in the media, but we are almost never provided with enough information to assess the truth of these claims. Does drinking coffee really cause cancer? Does bisphenol-A in our tin can linings really cause reproductive damage? Good Science, Bad Science, Pseudoscience, and Just Plain Bunk teaches readers how to think like a scientist to question claims like these more critically.

Peter A. Daempfle introduces readers to the basics of scientific inquiry, defining what science is and how it can be misused. Through provocative real-world examples, the book helps readers acquire the tools needed to distinguish scientific truth from myth. The book celebrates science and its role in society while building scientific literacy.

Peter A. Daempfle is associate professor of biology at SUNY College of Technology at Delhi. He has taught in the sciences for more than 20 years and has served as an advisor in the standards-based reform effort, working to improve national science literacy and to advance the importance of scientific thinking.

Daempfle describes the scientific method and critical thinking in Good Science, Bad Science, Pseudoscience, and Just Plain Bunk. . . . The author's goal is to show readers 'how to think like a scientist,' enhance science literacy, and illustrate the use and misuse of science. Case studies are included throughout the text. After the introduction, subsequent chapters describe arguing in the evaluation of science and science information; scientific tools; and championing science and scientific thinking for all people. Further discussions address critical thinking; media influence; pseudoscience; and science myths. Later chapters address the responsibilities of scientists in terms of ethics and in communication; challenges; raising the status of scientists and scientific careers; and science as an economic driver. . . . [It] will interest high school and college science students anl³X