Voodoo Science by Robert Park

Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud by Robert Park. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN: 0-19-513515-6

This book is a real eye-opener when it comes to phony science, misguided science, or wishful thinking masquerading as science. The author, a bona fide scientist, a physicist, in fact, explains some of the ins and outs of how science works, how it doesn't work, and why so many of us get fooled so much of the time.

He also explains how the media and its obsession with headlines and telling sensational stories contributes to the gullibility of many. Some of the specific examples Park covers include cold fusion, homeopathy, NASA's obsession with putting people in space, and various claims to have invented perpetual motion or energy devices.

The book is written in simple language that anyone can understand, and provides an excellent overview of why so much phony science gets publicized and believed in by so many in our society today. A book that deserves to be widely read, and which should be read by anyone interested in separating the wheat from the chaff when it comes to modern science. Definitely recommended.