Point Books During Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

Original Title:	Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming
ISBN:	1596916109 (ISBN13: 9781596916104)
Edition Language:	English URL http://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/

Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming Hardcover | Pages: 357 pages

Present About Books Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

Title	:	Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming
Author	:	Naomi Oreskes
Book Format	:	Hardcover
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 357 pages
Published	:	May 25th 2010 by Bloomsbury Press
Categories	:	Science. Nonfiction. Politics. History. Environment. Climate Change

Narration Concering Books Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

The U.S. scientific community has long led the world in research on such areas as public health, environmental science, and issues affecting quality of life. Our scientists have produced landmark studies on the dangers of DDT, tobacco smoke, acid rain, and global warming. But at the same time, a small yet potent subset of this community leads the world in vehement denial of these dangers. Merchants of Doubt tells the story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. Remarkably, the same individuals surface repeatedly—some of the same figures who have claimed that the science of global warming is "not settled" denied the truth of studies linking smoking to lung cancer, coal smoke to acid rain, and CFCs to the ozone hole. "Doubt is our product," wrote one tobacco executive. These "experts" supplied it. Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, historians of science, roll back the rug on this dark corner of the American scientific community, showing how ideology and corporate interests, aided by a too-compliant media, have skewed public understanding of some of the most pressing issues of our era.

Rating About Books Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

Ratings: 4.17 From 4327 Users | 564 Reviews

Judgment About Books Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

The Good:--I vaguely remember the documentary adaptation; this book is far more memorable.--Of significance is tracing free market fundamentalism to the Cold War, and in the cases reviewed to a few Cold War physicists who became useful tools based on their scientific prestige and ideological persuasion.--I was not aware of (but not surprised by) the modern corporate backlash towards Rachel Carson detailed in later chapters, in its denial of DDT-resistance and in its accusation of

I'm giving this book an extra half star because I know one of the authors and I can read between the lines and see that her contributions are more circumspect and better thought out than the compromised version that ended up in this book. Merchants of Doubt is about the misuse of science by politicians. It's a very good, methodically researched introduction to how science gets twisted in the political process. Where this book loses credibility, however, is that it shows only one side of the

A decent book although as soon as you've read the title you 'get it' so kinda why bother. Still, a useful and forensic look at how a few shills hopped around from the tobacco industry to global warming denial promoting the 'teach the controversy' message. As long as the debate is kept alive, action is stymied and more people believe lies about second hand smoke or carbon emissions. Interesting just how few people were at the core of these projects. Merchants of Doubt helped me think about how

About a week ago, Not and I were browsing in a Melbourne bookstore when I noticed Merchants of Doubt. "Should we buy it?" I asked, after glancing at the back cover. Not was unenthusiastic. "It'll be one of those books," she said - by which, as I immediately understood, she meant that it would be another partisan book about a hot topic, which dishonestly reported one side of a complicated and unclear debate while ignoring the other side. "So what kind of book would you buy?" I asked. "The kind

I would first like to comment on the idea that a "small group of people" caused all of this. I think that is misleading, and the subtitle of the book is misleading. Here is a list of just some people and groups that I think help all of these attacks on science and reason to happen:1. Corporations like Phillip Morris, Exxon, Monsanto, Dow Chemical. The list can go on. I say those names and I am stunned by what appears to me the total greed and lack of morality they can exhibit. I belong to a

Rigorous and serious, passionate and informative; one of the most important books of the 21st century. It is not an easy read but a book that must be read nonetheless.