Comments on: What should it say on the back of my book?

By: NelC

NelC — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:21:48 +0000

Oh, good gods, yes, I have to agree with Ed: index! I really don’t want to have to re-read nearly the whole book to find again the disease the French associate with vaccines, for example. I will re-read the book at some point, but I also feel the need to pick at the bones occasionally.

By: mikewhit

mikewhit — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:19:28 +0000

But apart from the cover what is the difference between old and new books ?

Please. I believe I have asked before … without success. And I bought an old one.

By: frisbee

frisbee — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:13:48 +0000

Kinda obvious. Should be Bad Science

By: MrMalcontent

MrMalcontent — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:29:50 +0000

110% of statistical errors

By: Redski

Redski — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:59:28 +0000

Go whole hog: Measles, mumps and rubella

By: Kallis

Kallis — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:04:49 +0000

Far too late now but…

Blurb writers

By: ed rowe

ed rowe — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:17:09 +0000

Don’t know about the back of your book, Ben, but can you please put an index in this time? Check out the Society of Indexers for reasons why or, if you want the quick version, so I can find my way round it more quickly. No, I’m not an indexer BTW. Cheers.

By: TimW

TimW — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:18:00 +0000

And a partridge in a pear tree.

By: Queex

Queex — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:07:43 +0000

“All kinds of things you didn’t know weren’t bad for you”

“Snake-oil salesmen in lab coats”

By: 24alex

24alex — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:36:00 +0000

Bollocks, that was meant to be a crossed out Dr. infront of her name!

By: 24alex

24alex — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:35:26 +0000

+1 for [strikethrough]dr[/strikethrough] gillian mckieth

By: Scrotley

Scrotley — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:56:13 +0000

RICOCKULOUSNESS!!!

Damn.

By: Jenfa

Jenfa — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:18:06 +0000

On a completely unrelated note, I have been looking at your merchandise page. How is it possible that an extremely small pair of pants is more costly than a t-shirt? :/

By: T

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:04:16 +0000

Ha yes I see your point! I haven’t actually read this book yet…I’m waiting for it to come back to the library. so i can read it for free

By: Diversity

Diversity — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:44:55 +0000

Ben
Whether or not you are the most sanctimonious person in the known universe (my Baysian prior bets 10 to the eigth: 1 against), I remember fondly the joy of telling a German academic conference organiser that I should not be introduced as Herr Professor Dr.Dr., nor as Herr Professor Dr. since I held neither a Professorship nor a Doctorate.

Latin is out of fashion (though medicos learn some), but for a suitable audience(or a Vatican edition of Bad Science) you might add to the list:

supressio veri
suggestio falsi

By: konomios

konomios — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:33:30 +0000

T, I think he doesn’t want to have Dr on the back precisely because he doesn’t want “OFFICIAL gravitas”. One of the points he makes in the book is that you shouldn’t trust someone’s opinion just because of a title they have.

After all, McKeith called herself Dr…

By: NuclearChicken

NuclearChicken — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:25:16 +0000

So what’s made it on the final list then?

By: DrDaveExeter

DrDaveExeter — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:22:35 +0000

Late as usual, but for your next edition you might add “Dry, flaky equations”

KUTGW

By: T

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:58:34 +0000

How can you not wish to have Dr on the back panel??
You are actually a Dr this gives you OFFICIAL gravitas unlike Mac Keith
My five would be

•Yourself
•Almost all of the people you will ever meet
•Every thing you see on TV
•Everything you read
•miasmas

By: chatsubo

chatsubo — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:10:12 +0000

Ben Goldacre said,
March 3, 2009 at 4:19 pm

i like:

marketing bullshit
factless arguments

should i make them drop Dr from Dr Ben Goldacre? i hate hate hate hate HATE the way they slightly seem to be insisting on presenting the book as a rabid hate screed from an authority figure, when the only thing i really add is that it is the absolute opposite of that.”

U.N. Representative: So, Mr. Evil… Dr. Evil: It’s Dr. Evil, I didn’t spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called “mister,” thank you very much