Dave Levitan

Not A Scientist is a brilliant and incisive look into how politicians misunderstand Science and attempt to undercut it. Now I understand, thinking is hard. This is true especially if you have a number of people to command and a large area to “govern.” Science is something that requires thought, and clearly, it isn’t for everyone. However, given the cosmopolitan nature of our world, in general, it would be in our best interests to understand science in all of its facets. The unfortunate thing is that many do not understand or simply latch onto something that happened many years ago or was redacted.

Science is always moving forward. There is almost always another horizon to look forward to in the realm of science. Take something like Frontal Lobotomy, a universally panned and ridiculed practice nowadays. Did you know that the person who invented the Frontal Lobotomy earned a Nobel Prize for his efforts? Well, he did. However, politicians and some celebrities are convinced in the findings of outdated studies. I could talk for hours on some things if people would let me. Vaccination and Autism is one of those things. No, there is no relation between the two, but people continually refer to the study that wasn’t supported by any other scientist. The doctor who put out the paper lost his license to practice, yet people still prattle on about that paper he wrote.

The book is marvelously interesting and well-written in how it dissects the spurious arguments of politicians. Now the names that the author comes up with are merely his own terms, but you could probably find some proper names for them, perhaps some of them even have fancy Latin terms like Non-Sequitor or Modus Ponens or something.

So if you are a politician and you can withstand harsh criticism for your lack of basic scientific knowledge, you can avoid reading this book. On the other hand, the book is more for a voter since it does mention that this is meant to prepare you for bad arguments. I would highly recommend this book.… (mais)