[LINK] Book: "The Republican war on science"

Glen Turner glen.turner at aarnet.edu.au
Tue Sep 26 00:41:27 AEST 2006


Bumped into this:

   Mooney, Chris.
   The Republican war on science.
   Basic Books. Revised and expanded paperback edition, 2005.

which is well worth the read.  As you might expect from the
title is is very US-focused, although the conservative undermining
of science is somewhat international.

Covers the politics undermining objective science related to tobacco,
evolution, climate warming, pollution, obesity, extinctions, stem cells,
abortion (and claims it damages health), SDI. Doesn't cover leaded
petrol (which is nicely covered in Bill Bryson's science book).

Doesn't cover public health and AIDS, although that's part of
the same syndrome. (See "And the band played on" for a good
account of the US politics there).

It's pretty tightly focused on just the politics, whereas we all
know that the practice of science is broken in other ways too.



The other book I've been impressed by is

   Jacobson, Chris & Colon, Ernie.
   The 9/11 report. A graphic adaptation.
   Hill and Wang, 2006.

Which is a comic book. Based entirely on the Final Report
of the [US] National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon
the United States, even down to the dialogue.  Easily the
best current affairs book I've read in a long while.

-- 
  Glen Turner         Tel: (08) 8303 3936 or +61 8 8303 3936
  Australia's Academic & Research Network  www.aarnet.edu.au




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