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Science Left Behind: Feel-Good Fallacies and the Rise of the Anti-Scientific Left, by Alex Berezow, Hank Campbell
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To listen to most pundits and political writers, evolution, stem cells, and climate change are the only scientific issues worth mentioning—and the only people who are anti-science are conservatives. Yet those on the left have numerous fallacies of their own. Aversion to clean energy programs, basic biological research, and even life-saving vaccines come naturally to many progressives. These are positions supported by little more than junk-science and paranoid thinking.
Now for the first time, science writers Dr. Alex B. Berezow and Hank Campbell have drawn open the curtain on the left’s fear of science. As Science Left Behind reveals, vague inclinations about the wholesomeness of all things natural, the unhealthiness of the unnatural, and many other seductive fallacies have led to an epidemic of misinformation. The results: public health crises, damaging and misguided policies, and worst of all, a new culture war over basic scientific facts—in which the left is just as culpable as the right.
- Sales Rank: #587937 in eBooks
- Published on: 2012-09-12
- Released on: 2012-09-12
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Booklist
The authors spend a fair amount of time at the outset of this unsettling book explaining that they don’t have a political agenda, but the book’s subtitle, combined with its stated purpose—“to inform you about a disturbing trend among highly influential progressive activists who misinterpret, misrepresent, and abuse science to advance their ideological and political agendas”—might lead some readers to conclude otherwise. Leaving politics aside, though, there is much here to recommend. The science is clearly explained, and the issues surrounding the science laid out with clarity. There are a lot of hot-button topics here: environmentalism, genetically modified organisms, organic food, product testing on animals, solar power, clean energy, and more. The authors explore the issues in detail, working very hard to give the appearance of political neutrality, and the book does an excellent job of opening readers’ minds to the possibility that these issues aren’t as cut-and-dried as they might have been led to believe by politicians and the media. Open-minded readers, those who don’t mind being asked to reassess their long-held beliefs, should find much here to think about and debate. --David Pitt
Review
Michael Medved, nationally syndicated talk radio host, author of THE 10 BIG LIES ABOUT AMERICA
“Entertaining, enlightening and important. This valuable book should shatter the left's smug certainty that science registers as a partisan Democrat. Berezow and Campbell provide persuasive evidence and argument that should reshape conventional wisdom on a wide variety of current controversies."
Kirkus
“A sophisticatedly vitriolic, somewhat tongue-in-cheek addition to the current election debate.”
Publishers Weekly
“Their nonpartisan message is clear: Washington as a whole is woefully uninformed when it comes to the scientific underpinnings of pertinent topics like stem cell research, green energy, organic food, vaccines, and gender issues."
Huntington News
“Groundbreaking…If I were teaching journalism, this is a book that I would require my students to read and absorb -- and keep for reference.”
The Progressive Contrarian“A no-nonsense, sometimes brutal and sometimes funny book that progressives should read.”
Red, Green, and Blue.org“Anyone who talks for very long with a genuine American leftist -- as opposed to the vastly more numerous moderate liberals -- can quickly see that romantic-nostalgic spite toward science and technology is not the sole province of Fox-watchers."
PolicyMic“The people who are skeptical of the benefits of vaccination or think that organic food is healthier will undoubtedly find [Science Left Behind] problematic. And they should. The prominent activists and politicians highlighted in this book are spreading misinformation and causing serious harm in some cases, and it's good to see scientists and science writers making some noise about it. You should read what they have to say. Go buy this book.”
Wall Street Journal“In Science Left Behind, journalists Alex B. Berezow and Hank Campbell show that conservatives hardly have a monopoly on motivated reasoning, usefully revealing how pervasive scientific misinformation is in progressive arguments on organic and genetically modified foods, clean energy, nuclear waste and other matters.”
Forbes“Alex Berezow and Hank Campbell, co-authors of Science Left Behind: Feel-Good Fallacies and the Rise of the Anti-Scientific Left, make a nuanced and convincing counter argument: Ludditism is not a partisan issue. In fact, on many of the most critical issues of our time, the “progressive” perspective is often rooted in out-dated, anti-empirical, junk science paradigms that threaten innovation—and are beginning to unnerve the most scientifically minded thinkers on the left….This soft conspiracy, promoted by mainstream Democrats, infects a broad array of science issues and highlights the religious-like iconic beliefs of the left (as Kloor has noted): Nature is sacred, big business is dangerous and corrupt, technology can cause more problems than it helps solve, the world is on the verge of an eco-apocalypse, and we need more precaution, regulation and legislation. I call it enviro-romanticism, a criticism documented in distressing detail in Science Left Behind…Read Science Left Behind. It’s a clarion call for the empirically minded amongst us regardless of your ideological persuasion.”
Booklist“There are a lot of hot-button topics here: environmentalism, genetically modified organisms, organic food, product testing on animals, solar power, clean energy, and more. The authors explore the issues in detail, working very hard to give the appearance of political neutrality, and the book does an excellent job of opening readers’ minds to the possibility that these issues aren’t as cut-and-dried as they might have been led to believe by politicians and the media. Open-minded readers, those who don’t mind being asked to reassess their long-held beliefs, should find much here to think about and debate.
Commentary Magazine“Alex B. Berezow and Hank Campbell are on solid ground in Science Left Behind: Feel-Good Fallacies and the Rise of the Anti-Scientific Left…Their arguments slice quickly and powerfully, supported by the kinds of skillfully chosen facts…Science Left Behind does much-needed work in drawing attention to what the authors call the “feel-good fallacies” that constitute the worldviews of so many on the left—often the very individuals who proudly claim membership in the “reality-based com-munity.” More important, Berezow and Campbell articulate a valuable observation that deserves constant reiterating: with great frequency, politics invites us to inhabit an imaginary world populated by fictions that conform to our desires about how things ought to be.”
San Francisco Book Review“Science Left Behind challenges the notion that poorly informed anti-science rhetoric is solely the province of the right wing…Berezow and Campbell offer numerous examples of progressives hijacking legitimate programs and research and twisting them to suit a backwards-ass anti-science agenda. In this way, reading Science Left Behind is as infuriating as it is eye-opening. A fundamental lack of familiarity with science is rampant in government as a whole, and Science Left Behind does an impressive job drawing attention to this alarming disparity.”
Portland Mercury“ Nevertheless, Berezow and Campbell's message is jarring and necessary. Science is vilified in American political life. People believe things because they wish to, not because of what is true. This has real-world consequences when it comes to the implementation of beneficial technology. Anti-scientism is everywhere, and acknowledging that much of it comes from our own political tribe is a hard and inconvenient truth.”
Scienceblogs.com“This is — as far as I know — the best and first book to tackle many of these anti-science claims, and while it is not the definitive work on any of these subjects, it’s worth a read for anyone who is infuriated by claims that republicans are anti-science…[T]he book does an excellent job of bringing together a large survey of different ways that elements of the political left in America fail to heed what science has to say."
New Scientist“There is more, and recent, antiscience fare from far-left progressives, documented in the 2012 book Science Left Behind by science journalists Alex B. Berezow and Hank Campbell, who note that “if it is true that conservatives have declared a war on science, then progressives have declared Armageddon….Whereas conservatives obsess over the purity and sanctity of sex, the left's sacred values seem fixated on the environment, leading to an almost religious fervor over the purity and sanctity of air, water and especially food.”
Scientific American“There is more, and recent, antiscience fare from far-left progressives, documented in the 2012 book Science Left Behind (PublicAffairs) by science journalists Alex B. Berezow and Hank Campbell, who note that “if it is true that conservatives have declared a war on science, then progressives have declared Armageddon.” On energy issues, for example, the authors contend that progressive liberals tend to be antinuclear because of the waste-disposal problem, anti–fossil fuels because of global warming, anti-hydroelectric because dams disrupt river ecosystems, and anti–wind power because of avian fatalities. The underlying current is “everything natural is good” and “everything unnatural is bad.”
Science Based Medicine"The chapter on “vaccines and Viagra” is pure music to the ears of science-based medicine. They agree that the anti-vaccine movement is based on outright lies, they call the Huffington Post a laughingstock of the scientific community for its endorsement of CAM, they call for the NCCAM to be abolished, [and] they explain why presenting data about relative risks rather than absolute risks is misleading."
About the Author
Alex B. Berezow is the editor of RealClearScience. His work has appeared on CNN, and in USA Today, Forbes, and The Economist among other publications. In 2010, he earned a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Washington. Originally from southern Illinois, he currently lives in Seattle.
Hank Campbell is the founder and editor of Science 2.0, the world’s largest independent science communication community. Prior to that, he was a senior executive at three physics software companies. He graduated from Duquesne University and was formerly a U.S. Army officer.
Most helpful customer reviews
103 of 134 people found the following review helpful.
Refeshing directness about the politicization of science
By Jon Entine
Confession up front: I bring a bias to this review: I write on 'scientific literacy' and run a genetics program, GeneticLiteracyProject.org and therefore have little patience for activists across the ideological spectrum who see science and science journalism as a playpen for their pet ideological beliefs. I'll confess I liked the leftwing version of this book, "The Republican War on Science", because it cold bloodedly pointed out the anti-science proclivities of the religious and uber conservative right on such issues as climate change (yes, it's happening, and its a genuine threat) and evolution. Author Chris Mooney lost his wheels in his follow up book, "The Republican Brain", which veered heavily into the ideological lane, but nonetheless he did science a service with his first book. But there is lots he left out...including the sensibility of a large part of what might Hank Campbell and Alex Berezow call the "progressive left" in their refreshing new book, "Science Left Behind."
In a nutshell, this book is smart, on point and witty. Although it hits its share of bloopers, it slams an amazing number of home runs, particularly when it comes to the left's aversion for risk and/or cost benefit analysis. Fracking? It's all about the environmental damage it might cause (as there is no evidence yet it causes any actual problems) and no discussion of the geopolitical game changing role it plays, the dramatic reduction in greenhouse gasses that if offers, and the huge economic benefits. Chemicals? The things that are in every product, and have helped transform society in the twentieth century? To the left, chemicals=toxic=danger, which is junior high school level simplistic analysis, yet it permeates the views of mainstream progressive thinking, including at well-funded activist NGOs such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Working Group.
This book is quite fearless, taking up many subjects that are just too touchy for the hard left to even discuss in public, such as male/female differences in brain structure and performance--which everyone who has had children knows is true. Yet as they point out, careers have been ruined by litmus test activists groups for trying to discuss, in reasonable and scientific ways, what scientists discuss all the time.
They also take on the elephant in the room, science journalism itself. Journalism watchdog blogs have proliferated on the web, but almost all of them, even those that eschew ideology, are captive to it. As they note, anti-science beliefs held by progressives--such as clearly erroneous statements that there is no example of Democrats rejecting an entire field of science--are given a pass while stupid statements made by stupid conservatives are somehow supposed to be representative of all non-progressives. (Note: examples of Democratic rejectionism include: GM foods and crops pose a health danger; organic foods are healthier than conventional foods; fracking is an environmental disaster in the making; coal is preferable and less harmful to the environment than nuclear energy...the list goes on).
What are the book's misses? The authors take too many partisan potshots at the Obama Administration, which seems no worse (and even marginally better) than the prior Republican Administration in dealing with politically prickly hot button science issues. To a science-obsessed observer (me), one couldn't help but think that when the Bush Administration got things right, it wasn't so much that they were honing true to science but that their laissez faire attitude happened to coincide with good science. Berezow and Campbell also wander afield when it comes to analyzing science education policy, where they know the statistics but genuinely seem out of their depth on how education works.
But those are relatively modest exceptions that underscore the rule of their book: writing about complex science issues is damn difficult, and the only defense we have against ideological arrogance is transparency. These guys lay it all out there for the reader. They are fair and funny. I would challenge anyone who is genuinely open minded and has a scientific sensibility to read this book and not come away more enlightened--and saddended by the harsh politicization of science by those who arrogantly call themselves "progressives".
46 of 59 people found the following review helpful.
Great Debut by Berezow and Campbell
By Matthew W. Schuh
I recently finished Alex Berezow and Hank Campbell's "Science Left Behind" and find it remarkable that as of the posting of this review, 85% of the reviews rate this book as either 5 stars or 1 star. Only two people who've read it find it to be somewhere between "great" and "terrible"? No wonder it's difficult for conservatives and liberals/progressives to have meaningful conversation about the improtance of science when it's just easier to use as a weapon against the other.
Overall, I think the story Berezow and Campbell tell is an important one that needs to be told and is done in an eloquent and entertaining way. Conservatives are frequently chided for taking "anti-science" views that seem as often to be a balancing of other factors/considerations above the opinions of scientists rather than a carte blanche rejection of science itself. Berezow and Campbell do a great job of pointing out that progressives/liberals do exactly the same thing. That said, I take issue with their definition of "anti-science" and think their better case is that the term "anti-science" (as used) applies across the board and one side should not cast it so promiscuous on the other. If everybody is anti-science does it really even mean anything? Science is a tremendously useful tool, but not all tools are sufficient for all tasks. Respect for science and its capabilites should be maintained but we should not denigrate other considerations in a way that makes science the only legitimate consideration. That said, I think they start an important conversation and effectively make the case that being "anti-science" is not as one sided as seems to be prevailing opinion.
49 of 66 people found the following review helpful.
A Book Committed to Science, Not Politics
By J. T. Myers
An excellent discussion of the scientific blindness of progressives, who focus on evolution on other issues while ignoring their anti-science approach to science that truly improves human lives. The book carefully documents the progressive attack on important, life-saving science like vaccinations, using science to improve crop yields and reduce the need for pesticides and support for feel-good (but failed) technologies like solar power.
It is not a rebuttal to left-wing books that critique some of the anti-scientific fallacies of the right. It is, however, a response to left-wing pseudo-scientists who choose fear over scientific consensus by claiming that precaution dictates we ignore what we know in favor of what we don't. Rather than rebut, the book does a good job of completing the discussion of science and politics.
The authors, both with deep experience in science (Berezow has a PhD in microbiology), also address the failure of science education in the universities and the trend toward poor science journalism.
It is a quick, but clear read that is an important addition to the discussion about science and politics.
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