a must read book, 05 Oct 2008
This is one of those books that you read and then imemdiately want to purchase for virtually everybody you know - the ones who will already agree, and the ones who will argue (using bad science) until they are blue in the face.
This is an amusing, informative and very interesting read that addresses some highly disturbing stories, such as the MMR media hoax, MRSA testing, "studies" involving thousands of children, the qualifications of certain "doctors" and many more besides.
At the same time as drawing our attention to these issues we also learn about scientific testing, statistics, health related matters and more, but in a way that amazingly is not patronising, not overly simplified and highly entertaining.
This is a book where you definitely learn a great deal, but laugh a lot at the same time. This was one of those books where I found myself "tsktsking" and shaking my head whilst on the bus, and exclaiming "hah, listen to this" to my bemused housemate whenever something particularly caught my attention.
I would urge everyone to read this book, it should be compulsory reading for teens and adult alike. I have a feeling a lot of my friends may find this in their stocking this xmas!
Now stop reading reviews and add it to your basket ;-)

An Example To Us All, 03 Oct 2008
This is an important book, which should be read by everyone. The spread of "foo" and "pseudoscience" is creating a world of superstition and irrational thinking, which needs to be corrected before the advances of the Enlightenment are lost to history. When people are bombarded with "science" which has been "modified" and/or "selected" by PR departments, from every direction, it's hardly surprising that such garbage is given the credibility it doesn't deserve. In this book Ben Goldacre shows just how close to home it can be.

He writes in a very chatty style and the first word that came to mind was "passionate". The misrepresentation and deliberate misleading of the public by the media, is clearly very close to Ben's heart. As others have said, it is very similar in style and content to the website, which is hardly surprising.

All-in-all a creditable and important first effort which deserves all the positive reviews. I hope he can do more in the future. What would be even more satisfying though, would be if other scientists and journalists could follow his example and show this "pseudoscientific" garbage for what it really is. An excellent read. Buy it !

An excellent primer in your bulls**t detection studies, 02 Oct 2008
A quick, well-paced, well-structured and all-round excellent introduction to critical thinking and cutting through the media myth surrounding everything.

Everyone should read this.

Rational Thinking for an Irrational Time, 29 Sep 2008
As the 'vaccines cause autism' fallacy is rearing its head again, this time in America, this is a timely book.

Spread the word, 29 Sep 2008
Just finished reading this book and was enthralled from the beginning. As a (tut-tut) humanities graduate my knowledge of science is unfortuately mainly from the media. This book should be a must read for every single person who has ever read a "tomato ketcup cures cancer" type article. It's easy to read, fun and opens a whole world of interest.

Since it's very much critising the media, I would suggest its very unlikely to be promoted widely in said same media. Therefore I emplore you to read and spread the word to everyone you know.

a must read book, 05 Oct 2008
This is one of those books that you read and then imemdiately want to purchase for virtually everybody you know - the ones who will already agree, and the ones who will argue (using bad science) until they are blue in the face.
This is an amusing, informative and very interesting read that addresses some highly disturbing stories, such as the MMR media hoax, MRSA testing, "studies" involving thousands of children, the qualifications of certain "doctors" and many more besides.
At the same time as drawing our attention to these issues we also learn about scientific testing, statistics, health related matters and more, but in a way that amazingly is not patronising, not overly simplified and highly entertaining.
This is a book where you definitely learn a great deal, but laugh a lot at the same time. This was one of those books where I found myself "tsktsking" and shaking my head whilst on the bus, and exclaiming "hah, listen to this" to my bemused housemate whenever something particularly caught my attention.
I would urge everyone to read this book, it should be compulsory reading for teens and adult alike. I have a feeling a lot of my friends may find this in their stocking this xmas!
Now stop reading reviews and add it to your basket ;-)

An Example To Us All, 03 Oct 2008
This is an important book, which should be read by everyone. The spread of "foo" and "pseudoscience" is creating a world of superstition and irrational thinking, which needs to be corrected before the advances of the Enlightenment are lost to history. When people are bombarded with "science" which has been "modified" and/or "selected" by PR departments, from every direction, it's hardly surprising that such garbage is given the credibility it doesn't deserve. In this book Ben Goldacre shows just how close to home it can be.

He writes in a very chatty style and the first word that came to mind was "passionate". The misrepresentation and deliberate misleading of the public by the media, is clearly very close to Ben's heart. As others have said, it is very similar in style and content to the website, which is hardly surprising.

All-in-all a creditable and important first effort which deserves all the positive reviews. I hope he can do more in the future. What would be even more satisfying though, would be if other scientists and journalists could follow his example and show this "pseudoscientific" garbage for what it really is. An excellent read. Buy it !

An excellent primer in your bulls**t detection studies, 02 Oct 2008
A quick, well-paced, well-structured and all-round excellent introduction to critical thinking and cutting through the media myth surrounding everything.

Everyone should read this.

Rational Thinking for an Irrational Time, 29 Sep 2008
As the 'vaccines cause autism' fallacy is rearing its head again, this time in America, this is a timely book.

Spread the word, 29 Sep 2008
Just finished reading this book and was enthralled from the beginning. As a (tut-tut) humanities graduate my knowledge of science is unfortuately mainly from the media. This book should be a must read for every single person who has ever read a "tomato ketcup cures cancer" type article. It's easy to read, fun and opens a whole world of interest.

Since it's very much critising the media, I would suggest its very unlikely to be promoted widely in said same media. Therefore I emplore you to read and spread the word to everyone you know.

Pop Scientism & the Gospel of Fundamentalist Atheism, 07 Oct 2008
As we move into the late modern era Scientistic ideology, having somehow failed to sweep everybody along in its wake into the rationalist program of the 'Enlightenment' with its pipe-dreams of universal progress, finally grows angry, insecure, arrogant, intolerant, reductionistic.

Reading Richard Dawkins' book one is left not so much with the impression of his effectively debunking religion as much as his desire to usurp and replace it with a new secular-atheistic pseudo-gospel founded on Pop Scientism and Darwin-made-easy, Scientism as religion, constituting the new Church with its white-coated priesthood, its own sacraments, miracles and way to salvation. As the prophet of Fundamentalist Atheism Richard Dawkins certainly engages with his pulpit-pounding with a rare evangelistic fervour. In one of his more hubristic moments he even stated that Science has explained 99% of the physical universe and thus we no longer need what he and his ilk invariably dismiss as 'fairy stories' (everything aparently from the Bible to the Prajnparamita-Sutra to the works of William Blake and the art of Rogier Van Der Weyden.) For myself the old dictum of the schoolmen still holds firm - Omnia Exeunt in Mysterium - in reality for all his biological researches Richard Dawkins knows nothing more about where we come from, why we are here and where we are going than do any of the rest of us.

Science belongs to the empirical, quantitative domain (and within that limited scope its results are valid enough) but Religion, Art, Love and Poetry belong to the mysterious and qualitative sphere of human experience and Dawkins for all his myopic rants cannot really dismiss millenia of human experience much as his brand of reductionistic pop scientism wishes to. Truth be told man is a worshipping creature and the religious impulse is innate in human nature, even if in the end it can be deflected into consumerism, political cults, materialism, scientism or whatever idolatry is the flavour of the day. And whilst not dismissing the hypocrisy and injustice perpetrated in the name of religion in reality we have seen that the real horrors of the 20th century from Hiroshima to Bhopal have been the fruit of ethically-rudderless use of scientific technologies and relentlessly mechanised warfare, often deployed in the name of allegedly scientific forms of totalitarian politics from the dialectical materialism of Communism and the Social Darwinism of Nazism to the 'Economic Darwinism' inculcated by the proponents of unbridled Global Capitalism in our own day.

Anyway you won't find any real wisdom amid the fractious and tiresome polemic of Dawkins' writing, that's for sure.

Exposes ALL religion for the nonsense it is, 07 Oct 2008
Dawkins exposes the crumbly foundations upon which all 'faiths' are based. When laid bare by the cutting edge of scientific reason, it is unbelievable that we still live in an age infected by this nonsense. For those religious apologists who gave this book one star - try reading it first.

A new religion in itself, 27 Sep 2008
Arrogant but brilliant. Dawkins strips away the sheer lunacy of a lot of religious practises and tells the common sense version. The religious lot will hate it, the athiests applaud it. In a world where we want answers to everything - Dawkins doenst give them. But he does destory the repetitive nonsense that a lot of religious people follow without ever questionning why. If we only stopped asking why people dont follow what we do and ask ourselves why do we follow them - the world would be a better place.
I loved this book, it should form a religion of its own.

Get it!, 22 Sep 2008
Let's not nitpick. This book is an absolute godsend (!) for all of us who have consistently followed a path of atheism, but have not had a cogent, readable, popular book to give to people who still toy with the "Ooh but there must be more" school of religious flabby thinking. Perhaps (though I don't underestimate humans' capacity for self-delusion) this will help build the growing movement against those whose ridiculous longing for the various 'imaginary friends' provided by religious belief has caused so much damage to human endeavour. Thank you a thousand times Professor Dawkins.

completley gripping, the tirade of abuse makes it even more interesting! reviewers here seemed to have not really read it at all, 17 Sep 2008
A fantastically rational account on religion. This book has opened my eyes to the worders of science and the folly of religious conviction. In a style like Thomas Paine he smashes perceptions of relgion and makes beleivers sound as though they should be in a mental institution then again really they do! The Genius of Charles Dawin TV show involved a microcosm of what the book contains but with a few added ideas on social dawinism and the idea that "we are all winners". Starting as a wavey Agnostic I put down the book a 6.9 fully armed atheist and really allways have been just without the abilty to articultate my feelings.the danger is relgious zealots taking direct offense with the book it may have been hard for Dawkins to be carefull not to offend and underestimate quite how indoctrinated people are but really the only way to trully battle such strong convictions is to meet them head on with eaqual force and far more truth.
A true modern great.

a must read book, 05 Oct 2008
This is one of those books that you read and then imemdiately want to purchase for virtually everybody you know - the ones who will already agree, and the ones who will argue (using bad science) until they are blue in the face.
This is an amusing, informative and very interesting read that addresses some highly disturbing stories, such as the MMR media hoax, MRSA testing, "studies" involving thousands of children, the qualifications of certain "doctors" and many more besides.
At the same time as drawing our attention to these issues we also learn about scientific testing, statistics, health related matters and more, but in a way that amazingly is not patronising, not overly simplified and highly entertaining.
This is a book where you definitely learn a great deal, but laugh a lot at the same time. This was one of those books where I found myself "tsktsking" and shaking my head whilst on the bus, and exclaiming "hah, listen to this" to my bemused housemate whenever something particularly caught my attention.
I would urge everyone to read this book, it should be compulsory reading for teens and adult alike. I have a feeling a lot of my friends may find this in their stocking this xmas!
Now stop reading reviews and add it to your basket ;-)

An Example To Us All, 03 Oct 2008
This is an important book, which should be read by everyone. The spread of "foo" and "pseudoscience" is creating a world of superstition and irrational thinking, which needs to be corrected before the advances of the Enlightenment are lost to history. When people are bombarded with "science" which has been "modified" and/or "selected" by PR departments, from every direction, it's hardly surprising that such garbage is given the credibility it doesn't deserve. In this book Ben Goldacre shows just how close to home it can be.

He writes in a very chatty style and the first word that came to mind was "passionate". The misrepresentation and deliberate misleading of the public by the media, is clearly very close to Ben's heart. As others have said, it is very similar in style and content to the website, which is hardly surprising.

All-in-all a creditable and important first effort which deserves all the positive reviews. I hope he can do more in the future. What would be even more satisfying though, would be if other scientists and journalists could follow his example and show this "pseudoscientific" garbage for what it really is. An excellent read. Buy it !

An excellent primer in your bulls**t detection studies, 02 Oct 2008
A quick, well-paced, well-structured and all-round excellent introduction to critical thinking and cutting through the media myth surrounding everything.

Everyone should read this.

Rational Thinking for an Irrational Time, 29 Sep 2008
As the 'vaccines cause autism' fallacy is rearing its head again, this time in America, this is a timely book.

Spread the word, 29 Sep 2008
Just finished reading this book and was enthralled from the beginning. As a (tut-tut) humanities graduate my knowledge of science is unfortuately mainly from the media. This book should be a must read for every single person who has ever read a "tomato ketcup cures cancer" type article. It's easy to read, fun and opens a whole world of interest.

Since it's very much critising the media, I would suggest its very unlikely to be promoted widely in said same media. Therefore I emplore you to read and spread the word to everyone you know.

Pop Scientism & the Gospel of Fundamentalist Atheism, 07 Oct 2008
As we move into the late modern era Scientistic ideology, having somehow failed to sweep everybody along in its wake into the rationalist program of the 'Enlightenment' with its pipe-dreams of universal progress, finally grows angry, insecure, arrogant, intolerant, reductionistic.

Reading Richard Dawkins' book one is left not so much with the impression of his effectively debunking religion as much as his desire to usurp and replace it with a new secular-atheistic pseudo-gospel founded on Pop Scientism and Darwin-made-easy, Scientism as religion, constituting the new Church with its white-coated priesthood, its own sacraments, miracles and way to salvation. As the prophet of Fundamentalist Atheism Richard Dawkins certainly engages with his pulpit-pounding with a rare evangelistic fervour. In one of his more hubristic moments he even stated that Science has explained 99% of the physical universe and thus we no longer need what he and his ilk invariably dismiss as 'fairy stories' (everything aparently from the Bible to the Prajnparamita-Sutra to the works of William Blake and the art of Rogier Van Der Weyden.) For myself the old dictum of the schoolmen still holds firm - Omnia Exeunt in Mysterium - in reality for all his biological researches Richard Dawkins knows nothing more about where we come from, why we are here and where we are going than do any of the rest of us.

Science belongs to the empirical, quantitative domain (and within that limited scope its results are valid enough) but Religion, Art, Love and Poetry belong to the mysterious and qualitative sphere of human experience and Dawkins for all his myopic rants cannot really dismiss millenia of human experience much as his brand of reductionistic pop scientism wishes to. Truth be told man is a worshipping creature and the religious impulse is innate in human nature, even if in the end it can be deflected into consumerism, political cults, materialism, scientism or whatever idolatry is the flavour of the day. And whilst not dismissing the hypocrisy and injustice perpetrated in the name of religion in reality we have seen that the real horrors of the 20th century from Hiroshima to Bhopal have been the fruit of ethically-rudderless use of scientific technologies and relentlessly mechanised warfare, often deployed in the name of allegedly scientific forms of totalitarian politics from the dialectical materialism of Communism and the Social Darwinism of Nazism to the 'Economic Darwinism' inculcated by the proponents of unbridled Global Capitalism in our own day.

Anyway you won't find any real wisdom amid the fractious and tiresome polemic of Dawkins' writing, that's for sure.

Exposes ALL religion for the nonsense it is, 07 Oct 2008
Dawkins exposes the crumbly foundations upon which all 'faiths' are based. When laid bare by the cutting edge of scientific reason, it is unbelievable that we still live in an age infected by this nonsense. For those religious apologists who gave this book one star - try reading it first.

A new religion in itself, 27 Sep 2008
Arrogant but brilliant. Dawkins strips away the sheer lunacy of a lot of religious practises and tells the common sense version. The religious lot will hate it, the athiests applaud it. In a world where we want answers to everything - Dawkins doenst give them. But he does destory the repetitive nonsense that a lot of religious people follow without ever questionning why. If we only stopped asking why people dont follow what we do and ask ourselves why do we follow them - the world would be a better place.
I loved this book, it should form a religion of its own.

Get it!, 22 Sep 2008
Let's not nitpick. This book is an absolute godsend (!) for all of us who have consistently followed a path of atheism, but have not had a cogent, readable, popular book to give to people who still toy with the "Ooh but there must be more" school of religious flabby thinking. Perhaps (though I don't underestimate humans' capacity for self-delusion) this will help build the growing movement against those whose ridiculous longing for the various 'imaginary friends' provided by religious belief has caused so much damage to human endeavour. Thank you a thousand times Professor Dawkins.

completley gripping, the tirade of abuse makes it even more interesting! reviewers here seemed to have not really read it at all, 17 Sep 2008
A fantastically rational account on religion. This book has opened my eyes to the worders of science and the folly of religious conviction. In a style like Thomas Paine he smashes perceptions of relgion and makes beleivers sound as though they should be in a mental institution then again really they do! The Genius of Charles Dawin TV show involved a microcosm of what the book contains but with a few added ideas on social dawinism and the idea that "we are all winners". Starting as a wavey Agnostic I put down the book a 6.9 fully armed atheist and really allways have been just without the abilty to articultate my feelings.the danger is relgious zealots taking direct offense with the book it may have been hard for Dawkins to be carefull not to offend and underestimate quite how indoctrinated people are but really the only way to trully battle such strong convictions is to meet them head on with eaqual force and far more truth.
A true modern great.

If you are a statistics-phobe...this is the book for you!, 26 Aug 2008
If you are needing to learn both SPSS and statistics at the same time and intimidated at all by the math, this is a great book to help take you through the quagmire of both the SPSS software, the principles of statistics and make sense of it all too! Andy Field has done an excellent job at taking much of the mystery out of how and why to use the various tests. The book is comprehensive but the analysis of my research and study is focussed primarily on correlation, t-tests and regression. There are chapters in the book I will probably never read as I cannot foresee ever needing to read them. But, the book is very useful for referencing particular areas and providing a tutorial as you are working.

I love the way Andy has created and inserted his characters throughout the book - as I can identify myself as a cross between Cramming Samantha and Brian Haemorrhage.

Because I found Andy's book and CD so useful, I have not done any comparisons with other books. So, far, it has provided everything I have needed.

If you thought statatistics is complicated, this is the book for you, 21 Jul 2008
I am a post doctoral civil engineering student. I have been struggling with advanced statistics for months...when the problem was I did not have a good grasp of basic concepts. This book solved it all in a matter of days.
After reading this book.. you will be able to understand all the other more "complicated book" that you need to use.
If what you are paying for is for someone to expain stat and SPSS to you, this is your book.
Galit

Excellent, 23 Jun 2008
This book was my saviour during my dissertation. A must for any psychology student about to tackle SPSS!

Makes statistics a bit more manageable, 21 Apr 2008
I did a research project in Psychology with only very basic knowledge of statistics. I always hated statistics and tried to avoid them as much as possible. I was recommended this book, and was so glad I bought it. The style is quite refreshing and engaging, filling you with confidence as you learn.

At times it is a bit over-detailed, and you have to sift through to get to what to what you need, however, this is a strength of the book. I've seen some other books which explain what you do, but not why. Leaarning how principles can be applied to various situations is far more beneficial, as it's rare that your data will be similar to the examples in a book. If you're willing to spend just a little bit of time with it, you will find that you have a good basic knowledge of statistics, able to tackle increasingly complex problems

A lifesaver, 11 Mar 2008
To my undying shame, despite more than a decade in market research and now holding the exalted title of Research Director, I'm still a bit hazy about statistics. This excellent book, of which I've bought two copies and recommended to many others, provides a clear and engaging description of both simple and complex statistical concepts. And it comes with a free CD! Unfortunately, it's of SPSS files rather than Andy Field's favourite music. This book has stopped me getting found out, and it might do the same for you.

a must read book, 05 Oct 2008
This is one of those books that you read and then imemdiately want to purchase for virtually everybody you know - the ones who will already agree, and the ones who will argue (using bad science) until they are blue in the face.
This is an amusing, informative and very interesting read that addresses some highly disturbing stories, such as the MMR media hoax, MRSA testing, "studies" involving thousands of children, the qualifications of certain "doctors" and many more besides.
At the same time as drawing our attention to these issues we also learn about scientific testing, statistics, health related matters and more, but in a way that amazingly is not patronising, not overly simplified and highly entertaining.
This is a book where you definitely learn a great deal, but laugh a lot at the same time. This was one of those books where I found myself "tsktsking" and shaking my head whilst on the bus, and exclaiming "hah, listen to this" to my bemused housemate whenever something particularly caught my attention.
I would urge everyone to read this book, it should be compulsory reading for teens and adult alike. I have a feeling a lot of my friends may find this in their stocking this xmas!
Now stop reading reviews and add it to your basket ;-)

An Example To Us All, 03 Oct 2008
This is an important book, which should be read by everyone. The spread of "foo" and "pseudoscience" is creating a world of superstition and irrational thinking, which needs to be corrected before the advances of the Enlightenment are lost to history. When people are bombarded with "science" which has been "modified" and/or "selected" by PR departments, from every direction, it's hardly surprising that such garbage is given the credibility it doesn't deserve. In this book Ben Goldacre shows just how close to home it can be.

He writes in a very chatty style and the first word that came to mind was "passionate". The misrepresentation and deliberate misleading of the public by the media, is clearly very close to Ben's heart. As others have said, it is very similar in style and content to the website, which is hardly surprising.

All-in-all a creditable and important first effort which deserves all the positive reviews. I hope he can do more in the future. What would be even more satisfying though, would be if other scientists and journalists could follow his example and show this "pseudoscientific" garbage for what it really is. An excellent read. Buy it !

An excellent primer in your bulls**t detection studies, 02 Oct 2008
A quick, well-paced, well-structured and all-round excellent introduction to critical thinking and cutting through the media myth surrounding everything.

Everyone should read this.

Rational Thinking for an Irrational Time, 29 Sep 2008
As the 'vaccines cause autism' fallacy is rearing its head again, this time in America, this is a timely book.

Spread the word, 29 Sep 2008
Just finished reading this book and was enthralled from the beginning. As a (tut-tut) humanities graduate my knowledge of science is unfortuately mainly from the media. This book should be a must read for every single person who has ever read a "tomato ketcup cures cancer" type article. It's easy to read, fun and opens a whole world of interest.

Since it's very much critising the media, I would suggest its very unlikely to be promoted widely in said same media. Therefore I emplore you to read and spread the word to everyone you know.

Pop Scientism & the Gospel of Fundamentalist Atheism, 07 Oct 2008
As we move into the late modern era Scientistic ideology, having somehow failed to sweep everybody along in its wake into the rationalist program of the 'Enlightenment' with its pipe-dreams of universal progress, finally grows angry, insecure, arrogant, intolerant, reductionistic.

Reading Richard Dawkins' book one is left not so much with the impression of his effectively debunking religion as much as his desire to usurp and replace it with a new secular-atheistic pseudo-gospel founded on Pop Scientism and Darwin-made-easy, Scientism as religion, constituting the new Church with its white-coated priesthood, its own sacraments, miracles and way to salvation. As the prophet of Fundamentalist Atheism Richard Dawkins certainly engages with his pulpit-pounding with a rare evangelistic fervour. In one of his more hubristic moments he even stated that Science has explained 99% of the physical universe and thus we no longer need what he and his ilk invariably dismiss as 'fairy stories' (everything aparently from the Bible to the Prajnparamita-Sutra to the works of William Blake and the art of Rogier Van Der Weyden.) For myself the old dictum of the schoolmen still holds firm - Omnia Exeunt in Mysterium - in reality for all his biological researches Richard Dawkins knows nothing more about where we come from, why we are here and where we are going than do any of the rest of us.

Science belongs to the empirical, quantitative domain (and within that limited scope its results are valid enough) but Religion, Art, Love and Poetry belong to the mysterious and qualitative sphere of human experience and Dawkins for all his myopic rants cannot really dismiss millenia of human experience much as his brand of reductionistic pop scientism wishes to. Truth be told man is a worshipping creature and the religious impulse is innate in human nature, even if in the end it can be deflected into consumerism, political cults, materialism, scientism or whatever idolatry is the flavour of the day. And whilst not dismissing the hypocrisy and injustice perpetrated in the name of religion in reality we have seen that the real horrors of the 20th century from Hiroshima to Bhopal have been the fruit of ethically-rudderless use of scientific technologies and relentlessly mechanised warfare, often deployed in the name of allegedly scientific forms of totalitarian politics from the dialectical materialism of Communism and the Social Darwinism of Nazism to the 'Economic Darwinism' inculcated by the proponents of unbridled Global Capitalism in our own day.

Anyway you won't find any real wisdom amid the fractious and tiresome polemic of Dawkins' writing, that's for sure.

Exposes ALL religion for the nonsense it is, 07 Oct 2008
Dawkins exposes the crumbly foundations upon which all 'faiths' are based. When laid bare by the cutting edge of scientific reason, it is unbelievable that we still live in an age infected by this nonsense. For those religious apologists who gave this book one star - try reading it first.

A new religion in itself, 27 Sep 2008
Arrogant but brilliant. Dawkins strips away the sheer lunacy of a lot of religious practises and tells the common sense version. The religious lot will hate it, the athiests applaud it. In a world where we want answers to everything - Dawkins doenst give them. But he does destory the repetitive nonsense that a lot of religious people follow without ever questionning why. If we only stopped asking why people dont follow what we do and ask ourselves why do we follow them - the world would be a better place.
I loved this book, it should form a religion of its own.

Get it!, 22 Sep 2008
Let's not nitpick. This book is an absolute godsend (!) for all of us who have consistently followed a path of atheism, but have not had a cogent, readable, popular book to give to people who still toy with the "Ooh but there must be more" school of religious flabby thinking. Perhaps (though I don't underestimate humans' capacity for self-delusion) this will help build the growing movement against those whose ridiculous longing for the various 'imaginary friends' provided by religious belief has caused so much damage to human endeavour. Thank you a thousand times Professor Dawkins.

completley gripping, the tirade of abuse makes it even more interesting! reviewers here seemed to have not really read it at all, 17 Sep 2008
A fantastically rational account on religion. This book has opened my eyes to the worders of science and the folly of religious conviction. In a style like Thomas Paine he smashes perceptions of relgion and makes beleivers sound as though they should be in a mental institution then again really they do! The Genius of Charles Dawin TV show involved a microcosm of what the book contains but with a few added ideas on social dawinism and the idea that "we are all winners". Starting as a wavey Agnostic I put down the book a 6.9 fully armed atheist and really allways have been just without the abilty to articultate my feelings.the danger is relgious zealots taking direct offense with the book it may have been hard for Dawkins to be carefull not to offend and underestimate quite how indoctrinated people are but really the only way to trully battle such strong convictions is to meet them head on with eaqual force and far more truth.
A true modern great.

If you are a statistics-phobe...this is the book for you!, 26 Aug 2008
If you are needing to learn both SPSS and statistics at the same time and intimidated at all by the math, this is a great book to help take you through the quagmire of both the SPSS software, the principles of statistics and make sense of it all too! Andy Field has done an excellent job at taking much of the mystery out of how and why to use the various tests. The book is comprehensive but the analysis of my research and study is focussed primarily on correlation, t-tests and regression. There are chapters in the book I will probably never read as I cannot foresee ever needing to read them. But, the book is very useful for referencing particular areas and providing a tutorial as you are working.

I love the way Andy has created and inserted his characters throughout the book - as I can identify myself as a cross between Cramming Samantha and Brian Haemorrhage.

Because I found Andy's book and CD so useful, I have not done any comparisons with other books. So, far, it has provided everything I have needed.

If you thought statatistics is complicated, this is the book for you, 21 Jul 2008
I am a post doctoral civil engineering student. I have been struggling with advanced statistics for months...when the problem was I did not have a good grasp of basic concepts. This book solved it all in a matter of days.
After reading this book.. you will be able to understand all the other more "complicated book" that you need to use.
If what you are paying for is for someone to expain stat and SPSS to you, this is your book.
Galit

Excellent, 23 Jun 2008
This book was my saviour during my dissertation. A must for any psychology student about to tackle SPSS!

Makes statistics a bit more manageable, 21 Apr 2008
I did a research project in Psychology with only very basic knowledge of statistics. I always hated statistics and tried to avoid them as much as possible. I was recommended this book, and was so glad I bought it. The style is quite refreshing and engaging, filling you with confidence as you learn.

At times it is a bit over-detailed, and you have to sift through to get to what to what you need, however, this is a strength of the book. I've seen some other books which explain what you do, but not why. Leaarning how principles can be applied to various situations is far more beneficial, as it's rare that your data will be similar to the examples in a book. If you're willing to spend just a little bit of time with it, you will find that you have a good basic knowledge of statistics, able to tackle increasingly complex problems

A lifesaver, 11 Mar 2008
To my undying shame, despite more than a decade in market research and now holding the exalted title of Research Director, I'm still a bit hazy about statistics. This excellent book, of which I've bought two copies and recommended to many others, provides a clear and engaging description of both simple and complex statistical concepts. And it comes with a free CD! Unfortunately, it's of SPSS files rather than Andy Field's favourite music. This book has stopped me getting found out, and it might do the same for you.

Great little book (That has like 1600 pages), 14 Jan 2008
As a med student..i found that this book covered basically anything i have needed to know in a simple..easy to understand fashion.

Everyone i have spoken to has a copy of this book..and uses it on at least a weekly basis. The book covers material from the very basics to the complex..and managed to acheive this without being patronising or condescending..all in all a great book

Fantastic, 06 Apr 2007
This was one of my best (and most recommended) must-buy books for any pharmacy/pharmacology student that needs an in-depth knowledge of pharmacology. This is one of the books that got me through my MPharm degree. The concepts are presented with amazing clarity and the pictures in this book say more than a thousand words (yes, they really are that good). A highly recommended book for any student that needs an all-round pharmacology book.

The main reason I'm a Pharmacist, 21 Aug 2006
An absolute gem of a book. Probably the best value for money from any book i purchased in my MPharm degree. I totaly recommend it for any body who needs an indepth knowledge of pharmacology.

A wealth of information, 09 Feb 2006
This book contains absolutely everything you will need to know in Pharmacology univeristy course units. The text is very small, so can get a bit boring reading it but, like I say, there's a hell of a lot of stuff crammed in there. Lot of diagrams and text boxes to summarise the heavy stuff. Definitely worth a read.

Depends on levels of info needed, 16 Jan 2006
I bought this book after reading the reviews on here which appeared to say that was probably the best pharmacology book available. I have found as a med student, there is often not enough information on specific drugs and their actions, and many drugs aren't in the book at all. Myself would recomend Lange instead.

a must read book, 05 Oct 2008
This is one of those books that you read and then imemdiately want to purchase for virtually everybody you know - the ones who will already agree, and the ones who will argue (using bad science) until they are blue in the face.
This is an amusing, informative and very interesting read that addresses some highly disturbing stories, such as the MMR media hoax, MRSA testing, "studies" involving thousands of children, the qualifications of certain "doctors" and many more besides.
At the same time as drawing our attention to these issues we also learn about scientific testing, statistics, health related matters and more, but in a way that amazingly is not patronising, not overly simplified and highly entertaining.
This is a book where you definitely learn a great deal, but laugh a lot at the same time. This was one of those books where I found myself "tsktsking" and shaking my head whilst on the bus, and exclaiming "hah, listen to this" to my bemused housemate whenever something particularly caught my attention.
I would urge everyone to read this book, it should be compulsory reading for teens and adult alike. I have a feeling a lot of my friends may find this in their stocking this xmas!
Now stop reading reviews and add it to your basket ;-)

An Example To Us All, 03 Oct 2008
This is an important book, which should be read by everyone. The spread of "foo" and "pseudoscience" is creating a world of superstition and irrational thinking, which needs to be corrected before the advances of the Enlightenment are lost to history. When people are bombarded with "science" which has been "modified" and/or "selected" by PR departments, from every direction, it's hardly surprising that such garbage is given the credibility it doesn't deserve. In this book Ben Goldacre shows just how close to home it can be.

He writes in a very chatty style and the first word that came to mind was "passionate". The misrepresentation and deliberate misleading of the public by the media, is clearly very close to Ben's heart. As others have said, it is very similar in style and content to the website, which is hardly surprising.

All-in-all a creditable and important first effort which deserves all the positive reviews. I hope he can do more in the future. What would be even more satisfying though, would be if other scientists and journalists could follow his example and show this "pseudoscientific" garbage for what it really is. An excellent read. Buy it !

An excellent primer in your bulls**t detection studies, 02 Oct 2008
A quick, well-paced, well-structured and all-round excellent introduction to critical thinking and cutting through the media myth surrounding everything.

Everyone should read this.

Rational Thinking for an Irrational Time, 29 Sep 2008
As the 'vaccines cause autism' fallacy is rearing its head again, this time in America, this is a timely book.

Spread the word, 29 Sep 2008
Just finished reading this book and was enthralled from the beginning. As a (tut-tut) humanities graduate my knowledge of science is unfortuately mainly from the media. This book should be a must read for every single person who has ever read a "tomato ketcup cures cancer" type article. It's easy to read, fun and opens a whole world of interest.

Since it's very much critising the media, I would suggest its very unlikely to be promoted widely in said same media. Therefore I emplore you to read and spread the word to everyone you know.

Pop Scientism & the Gospel of Fundamentalist Atheism, 07 Oct 2008
As we move into the late modern era Scientistic ideology, having somehow failed to sweep everybody along in its wake into the rationalist program of the 'Enlightenment' with its pipe-dreams of universal progress, finally grows angry, insecure, arrogant, intolerant, reductionistic.

Reading Richard Dawkins' book one is left not so much with the impression of his effectively debunking religion as much as his desire to usurp and replace it with a new secular-atheistic pseudo-gospel founded on Pop Scientism and Darwin-made-easy, Scientism as religion, constituting the new Church with its white-coated priesthood, its own sacraments, miracles and way to salvation. As the prophet of Fundamentalist Atheism Richard Dawkins certainly engages with his pulpit-pounding with a rare evangelistic fervour. In one of his more hubristic moments he even stated that Science has explained 99% of the physical universe and thus we no longer need what he and his ilk invariably dismiss as 'fairy stories' (everything aparently from the Bible to the Prajnparamita-Sutra to the works of William Blake and the art of Rogier Van Der Weyden.) For myself the old dictum of the schoolmen still holds firm - Omnia Exeunt in Mysterium - in reality for all his biological researches Richard Dawkins knows nothing more about where we come from, why we are here and where we are going than do any of the rest of us.

Science belongs to the empirical, quantitative domain (and within that limited scope its results are valid enough) but Religion, Art, Love and Poetry belong to the mysterious and qualitative sphere of human experience and Dawkins for all his myopic rants cannot really dismiss millenia of human experience much as his brand of reductionistic pop scientism wishes to. Truth be told man is a worshipping creature and the religious impulse is innate in human nature, even if in the end it can be deflected into consumerism, political cults, materialism, scientism or whatever idolatry is the flavour of the day. And whilst not dismissing the hypocrisy and injustice perpetrated in the name of religion in reality we have seen that the real horrors of the 20th century from Hiroshima to Bhopal have been the fruit of ethically-rudderless use of scientific technologies and relentlessly mechanised warfare, often deployed in the name of allegedly scientific forms of totalitarian politics from the dialectical materialism of Communism and the Social Darwinism of Nazism to the 'Economic Darwinism' inculcated by the proponents of unbridled Global Capitalism in our own day.

Anyway you won't find any real wisdom amid the fractious and tiresome polemic of Dawkins' writing, that's for sure.

Exposes ALL religion for the nonsense it is, 07 Oct 2008
Dawkins exposes the crumbly foundations upon which all 'faiths' are based. When laid bare by the cutting edge of scientific reason, it is unbelievable that we still live in an age infected by this nonsense. For those religious apologists who gave this book one star - try reading it first.

A new religion in itself, 27 Sep 2008
Arrogant but brilliant. Dawkins strips away the sheer lunacy of a lot of religious practises and tells the common sense version. The religious lot will hate it, the athiests applaud it. In a world where we want answers to everything - Dawkins doenst give them. But he does destory the repetitive nonsense that a lot of religious people follow without ever questionning why. If we only stopped asking why people dont follow what we do and ask ourselves why do we follow them - the world would be a better place.
I loved this book, it should form a religion of its own.

Get it!, 22 Sep 2008
Let's not nitpick. This book is an absolute godsend (!) for all of us who have consistently followed a path of atheism, but have not had a cogent, readable, popular book to give to people who still toy with the "Ooh but there must be more" school of religious flabby thinking. Perhaps (though I don't underestimate humans' capacity for self-delusion) this will help build the growing movement against those whose ridiculous longing for the various 'imaginary friends' provided by religious belief has caused so much damage to human endeavour. Thank you a thousand times Professor Dawkins.

completley gripping, the tirade of abuse makes it even more interesting! reviewers here seemed to have not really read it at all, 17 Sep 2008
A fantastically rational account on religion. This book has opened my eyes to the worders of science and the folly of religious conviction. In a style like Thomas Paine he smashes perceptions of relgion and makes beleivers sound as though they should be in a mental institution then again really they do! The Genius of Charles Dawin TV show involved a microcosm of what the book contains but with a few added ideas on social dawinism and the idea that "we are all winners". Starting as a wavey Agnostic I put down the book a 6.9 fully armed atheist and really allways have been just without the abilty to articultate my feelings.the danger is relgious zealots taking direct offense with the book it may have been hard for Dawkins to be carefull not to offend and underestimate quite how indoctrinated people are but really the only way to trully battle such strong convictions is to meet them head on with eaqual force and far more truth.
A true modern great.

If you are a statistics-phobe...this is the book for you!, 26 Aug 2008
If you are needing to learn both SPSS and statistics at the same time and intimidated at all by the math, this is a great book to help take you through the quagmire of both the SPSS software, the principles of statistics and make sense of it all too! Andy Field has done an excellent job at taking much of the mystery out of how and why to use the various tests. The book is comprehensive but the analysis of my research and study is focussed primarily on correlation, t-tests and regression. There are chapters in the book I will probably never read as I cannot foresee ever needing to read them. But, the book is very useful for referencing particular areas and providing a tutorial as you are working.

I love the way Andy has created and inserted his characters throughout the book - as I can identify myself as a cross between Cramming Samantha and Brian Haemorrhage.

Because I found Andy's book and CD so useful, I have not done any comparisons with other books. So, far, it has provided everything I have needed.

If you thought statatistics is complicated, this is the book for you, 21 Jul 2008
I am a post doctoral civil engineering student. I have been struggling with advanced statistics for months...when the problem was I did not have a good grasp of basic concepts. This book solved it all in a matter of days.
After reading this book.. you will be able to understand all the other more "complicated book" that you need to use.
If what you are paying for is for someone to expain stat and SPSS to you, this is your book.
Galit

Excellent, 23 Jun 2008
This book was my saviour during my dissertation. A must for any psychology student about to tackle SPSS!

Makes statistics a bit more manageable, 21 Apr 2008
I did a research project in Psychology with only very basic knowledge of statistics. I always hated statistics and tried to avoid them as much as possible. I was recommended this book, and was so glad I bought it. The style is quite refreshing and engaging, filling you with confidence as you learn.

At times it is a bit over-detailed, and you have to sift through to get to what to what you need, however, this is a strength of the book. I've seen some other books which explain what you do, but not why. Leaarning how principles can be applied to various situations is far more beneficial, as it's rare that your data will be similar to the examples in a book. If you're willing to spend just a little bit of time with it, you will find that you have a good basic knowledge of statistics, able to tackle increasingly complex problems

A lifesaver, 11 Mar 2008
To my undying shame, despite more than a decade in market research and now holding the exalted title of Research Director, I'm still a bit hazy about statistics. This excellent book, of which I've bought two copies and recommended to many others, provides a clear and engaging description of both simple and complex statistical concepts. And it comes with a free CD! Unfortunately, it's of SPSS files rather than Andy Field's favourite music. This book has stopped me getting found out, and it might do the same for you.

Great little book (That has like 1600 pages), 14 Jan 2008
As a med student..i found that this book covered basically anything i have needed to know in a simple..easy to understand fashion.

Everyone i have spoken to has a copy of this book..and uses it on at least a weekly basis. The book covers material from the very basics to the complex..and managed to acheive this without being patronising or condescending..all in all a great book

Fantastic, 06 Apr 2007
This was one of my best (and most recommended) must-buy books for any pharmacy/pharmacology student that needs an in-depth knowledge of pharmacology. This is one of the books that got me through my MPharm degree. The concepts are presented with amazing clarity and the pictures in this book say more than a thousand words (yes, they really are that good). A highly recommended book for any student that needs an all-round pharmacology book.

The main reason I'm a Pharmacist, 21 Aug 2006
An absolute gem of a book. Probably the best value for money from any book i purchased in my MPharm degree. I totaly recommend it for any body who needs an indepth knowledge of pharmacology.

A wealth of information, 09 Feb 2006
This book contains absolutely everything you will need to know in Pharmacology univeristy course units. The text is very small, so can get a bit boring reading it but, like I say, there's a hell of a lot of stuff crammed in there. Lot of diagrams and text boxes to summarise the heavy stuff. Definitely worth a read.

Depends on levels of info needed, 16 Jan 2006
I bought this book after reading the reviews on here which appeared to say that was probably the best pharmacology book available. I have found as a med student, there is often not enough information on specific drugs and their actions, and many drugs aren't in the book at all. Myself would recomend Lange instead.

An excellent little book, 18 Jul 2008
This little gem of a book should be in every backpackers back pocket. Concise, focused and descriptive you'll have no trouble identifying the plants and shellfish. There has been some comments about lack of information on animals to eat, this is probably because rabbits, pheasants and such are classed as game and will belong to the landowner. Whilst it's ok to pick a few plants, mushrooms and shellfish it will probably be frowned on if you start blasting away at the countryside or setting traps!

A Handy Pocket Volume, 13 Aug 2007


Richard Mabey is the author of several books on flora and fauna so he is well qualified to write a book such as this. Over one hundred edible plants are featured together with recipes and other culinary information. There is also information on how to pick and when to pick and the regulations on picking which are very important. As I come from farming stock I have to say that food for free does not mean going into a field and digging up a few potato plants or for that matter cabbages.

There are plenty of hedgerow plants available for free, if you are prepared to look for them and suffer the odd few scratches. There is nothing better than a bowl of freshly picked blackberries or raspberries, if you can get them home before they are all eaten.

Plants that are edible are fully illustrated and described and the recipes are both old and new. Other fascinating information is how the plants have been used through the ages. An ideal book for all those who are nature lovers and like the idea of something for nothing. I think the last part covers 99.9% of the population.

Good Introduction, 02 May 2007
I bought this book recently through a desire to understand the countryside around me and try some of its natural foodstuffs.
The book is very well presented and includes an excellent foreword by the author. It provides a basic explaination of the various flora, a little of their natural and culinary history and there are nice photographs with identification hints.
I think I would like to have seen more recipies and ways in which they might be implemented. In the section dedicated to Spring I think there are only three recipies with much of the other suggestions directed towards salads. On balance a satisfactory purchase but I think that if my interest in wild foods develops I will certainly have to follow up my purchase with something more wholly dedicated to the culinary.

Excellent pocket sized guide, 05 Feb 2006
This is a 2004 version and worthy addition to the very popular and pocket-sized Collins Gem series. ISBN 0-00-718303-8. Food For Free - A Fantastic Feast of Plants and Folklore.

The book starts with an introduction by the author Richard Mabey. It then has short sections titled 'Roots', 'Green Vegetables', 'Herbs', 'Spices', 'Flowers', 'Fruits', 'Making Jellies and Jams' and 'Nuts'. They include general advice, observations and uses. The main section of the book is given over to identification, with at least two pages per entry. An interesting section follows titled ’Picking Rules’ which gives advice on how to pick correctly how to stay safe. The last section before the main body of the book is a summary calendar which groups the picking times for entries into a colour-coded calendar - very useful as a quick reference.

Every entry is accompanied with a drawing. Most of the drawings are excellent, but one or two are a little small and thus less detailed. Fortunately, almost every entry also has a photograph. The combination of colour drawings and colour photographs is what makes this little pocket book a true 'gem'. If the drawing is a little weak, the photo will be excellent and vice-versa. Almost fool proof.

Each entry starts with the common English name (Latin is in small type at the top of the page)a colour illustration and description. Taking Beech (at random), it says: 'Widespread and common throughout the British Isles, especially on chalky soils. A stately deciduous tree, with smooth, grey bark, to 40m (130ft). Leaves: bright green, alternate, oval. Flowers: male drooping, stalked heads; female in pairs. Fruit: four inside a prickly brown husk, Sept-Oct. When ripe this opens into four lobes, this liberating the brown, three-sided nuts.' The illustration depicts a leaf, spring twig with unopened buds, an opening husk revealing nut inside and bare nut. The article continues with headings; Harvest/Pick, Uses, Beech Nut, Beech Nut Oil, Beech Leaf Noyau. The photo at the end of the entry is a good close-up of a twig with a cluster of husks. (I didn’t know, for example, that ‘fresh from the tree Beech leaves are a fine salad vegetable, as sweet as a mild cabbage though much softer in texture’.)

The book, in line with its title, covers Plants and Trees, Fungi, Seaweeds and Shellfish. There is a glossary at the end and a page devoted to further reading. There is a List of Recipes and finally an index of entries in common English or Latin.

There aren't that many books devoted to 'British' wild foods so to find one which lists over 100 edible plants, berries, mushrooms, seaweed and shellfish is most welcome. Given the true pocket size measurements of the Collins Gem series of books, the price of a fiver (£4-99) and the quality of each entry, this is as good as it gets. Obviously not a benchmark reference work or field-guide, but at least this fits in the pocket - which is the main purpose of such books, isn't it? Five stars!

Excites the interest but not actually that practical, 26 Oct 2005
This is an excellent book but in the wrong package. Richard Mabey does a very good job of giving a seasonal guide to what's out there that you can have for free and does a respectable job of telling you how to use it. It falls short in two respects;

First it is not a comprehensive guide to any particular food source so while he may tell you how to cook ceps and morels and gives a reasonable guide to identifying it without this being a comprehensive guide to fungi you will never be entirely certain that what you have is a cep or a morel. To some extent that is true for everything he shows whether its fungi, nuts or fruit.

The second point is more significant for a book on foraging and is that this edition is simply too big to take into the field. In some ways this isn't a significant problem as because the book isn't comprehensive it wouldn't be the choice to take into the field with you.

This book falls somewhere between the coffee table forager's manual and Delia goes wild. Both of which might sound like criticisms but for someone who hasn't foraged wild food previously both of those would be the ideal starting point. If that's you then buy this book and read it but leave it at home when you go out and get a good field guide to take with you.

Note - since writing that review I have realised that this is available in several editions. Some of the other editions are small enough to use as a field guide.

a must read book, 05 Oct 2008
This is one of those books that you read and then imemdiately want to purchase for virtually everybody you know - the ones who will already agree, and the ones who will argue (using bad science) until they are blue in the face.
This is an amusing, informative and very interesting read that addresses some highly disturbing stories, such as the MMR media hoax, MRSA testing, "studies" involving thousands of children, the qualifications of certain "doctors" and many more besides.
At the same time as drawing our attention to these issues we also learn about scientific testing, statistics, health related matters and more, but in a way that amazingly is not patronising, not overly simplified and highly entertaining.
This is a book where you definitely learn a great deal, but laugh a lot at the same time. This was one of those books where I found myself "tsktsking" and shaking my head whilst on the bus, and exclaiming "hah, listen to this" to my bemused housemate whenever something particularly caught my attention.
I would urge everyone to read this book, it should be compulsory reading for teens and adult alike. I have a feeling a lot of my friends may find this in their stocking this xmas!
Now stop reading reviews and add it to your basket ;-)

An Example To Us All, 03 Oct 2008
This is an important book, which should be read by everyone. The spread of "foo" and "pseudoscience" is creating a world of superstition and irrational thinking, which needs to be corrected before the advances of the Enlightenment are lost to history. When people are bombarded with "science" which has been "modified" and/or "selected" by PR departments, from every direction, it's hardly surprising that such garbage is given the credibility it doesn't deserve. In this book Ben Goldacre shows just how close to home it can be.

He writes in a very chatty style and the first word that came to mind was "passionate". The misrepresentation and deliberate misleading of the public by the media, is clearly very close to Ben's heart. As others have said, it is very similar in style and content to the website, which is hardly surprising.

All-in-all a creditable and important first effort which deserves all the positive reviews. I hope he can do more in the future. What would be even more satisfying though, would be if other scientists and journalists could follow his example and show this "pseudoscientific" garbage for what it really is. An excellent read. Buy it !

An excellent primer in your bulls**t detection studies, 02 Oct 2008
A quick, well-paced, well-structured and all-round excellent introduction to critical thinking and cutting through the media myth surrounding everything.

Everyone should read this.

Rational Thinking for an Irrational Time, 29 Sep 2008
As the 'vaccines cause autism' fallacy is rearing its head again, this time in America, this is a timely book.

Spread the word, 29 Sep 2008
Just finished reading this book and was enthralled from the beginning. As a (tut-tut) humanities graduate my knowledge of science is unfortuately mainly from the media. This book should be a must read for every single person who has ever read a "tomato ketcup cures cancer" type article. It's easy to read, fun and opens a whole world of interest.

Since it's very much critising the media, I would suggest its very unlikely to be promoted widely in said same media. Therefore I emplore you to read and spread the word to everyone you know.

Pop Scientism & the Gospel of Fundamentalist Atheism, 07 Oct 2008
As we move into the late modern era Scientistic ideology, having somehow failed to sweep everybody along in its wake into the rationalist program of the 'Enlightenment' with its pipe-dreams of universal progress, finally grows angry, insecure, arrogant, intolerant, reductionistic.

Reading Richard Dawkins' book one is left not so much with the impression of his effectively debunking religion as much as his desire to usurp and replace it with a new secular-atheistic pseudo-gospel founded on Pop Scientism and Darwin-made-easy, Scientism as religion, constituting the new Church with its white-coated priesthood, its own sacraments, miracles and way to salvation. As the prophet of Fundamentalist Atheism Richard Dawkins certainly engages with his pulpit-pounding with a rare evangelistic fervour. In one of his more hubristic moments he even stated that Science has explained 99% of the physical universe and thus we no longer need what he and his ilk invariably dismiss as 'fairy stories' (everything aparently from the Bible to the Prajnparamita-Sutra to the works of William Blake and the art of Rogier Van Der Weyden.) For myself the old dictum of the schoolmen still holds firm - Omnia Exeunt in Mysterium - in reality for all his biological researches Richard Dawkins knows nothing more about where we come from, why we are here and where we are going than do any of the rest of us.

Science belongs to the empirical, quantitative domain (and within that limited scope its results are valid enough) but Religion, Art, Love and Poetry belong to the mysterious and qualitative sphere of human experience and Dawkins for all his myopic rants cannot really dismiss millenia of human experience much as his brand of reductionistic pop scientism wishes to. Truth be told man is a worshipping creature and the religious impulse is innate in human nature, even if in the end it can be deflected into consumerism, political cults, materialism, scientism or whatever idolatry is the flavour of the day. And whilst not dismissing the hypocrisy and injustice perpetrated in the name of religion in reality we have seen that the real horrors of the 20th century from Hiroshima to Bhopal have been the fruit of ethically-rudderless use of scientific technologies and relentlessly mechanised warfare, often deployed in the name of allegedly scientific forms of totalitarian politics from the dialectical materialism of Communism and the Social Darwinism of Nazism to the 'Economic Darwinism' inculcated by the proponents of unbridled Global Capitalism in our own day.

Anyway you won't find any real wisdom amid the fractious and tiresome polemic of Dawkins' writing, that's for sure.

Exposes ALL religion for the nonsense it is, 07 Oct 2008
Dawkins exposes the crumbly foundations upon which all 'faiths' are based. When laid bare by the cutting edge of scientific reason, it is unbelievable that we still live in an age infected by this nonsense. For those religious apologists who gave this book one star - try reading it first.

A new religion in itself, 27 Sep 2008
Arrogant but brilliant. Dawkins strips away the sheer lunacy of a lot of religious practises and tells the common sense version. The religious lot will hate it, the athiests applaud it. In a world where we want answers to everything - Dawkins doenst give them. But he does destory the repetitive nonsense that a lot of religious people follow without ever questionning why. If we only stopped asking why people dont follow what we do and ask ourselves why do we follow them - the world would be a better place.
I loved this book, it should form a religion of its own.

Get it!, 22 Sep 2008
Let's not nitpick. This book is an absolute godsend (!) for all of us who have consistently followed a path of atheism, but have not had a cogent, readable, popular book to give to people who still toy with the "Ooh but there must be more" school of religious flabby thinking. Perhaps (though I don't underestimate humans' capacity for self-delusion) this will help build the growing movement against those whose ridiculous longing for the various 'imaginary friends' provided by religious belief has caused so much damage to human endeavour. Thank you a thousand times Professor Dawkins.

completley gripping, the tirade of abuse makes it even more interesting! reviewers here seemed to have not really read it at all, 17 Sep 2008
A fantastically rational account on religion. This book has opened my eyes to the worders of science and the folly of religious conviction. In a style like Thomas Paine he smashes perceptions of relgion and makes beleivers sound as though they should be in a mental institution then again really they do! The Genius of Charles Dawin TV show involved a microcosm of what the book contains but with a few added ideas on social dawinism and the idea that "we are all winners". Starting as a wavey Agnostic I put down the book a 6.9 fully armed atheist and really allways have been just without the abilty to articultate my feelings.the danger is relgious zealots taking direct offense with the book it may have been hard for Dawkins to be carefull not to offend and underestimate quite how indoctrinated people are but really the only way to trully battle such strong convictions is to meet them head on with eaqual force and far more truth.
A true modern great.

If you are a statistics-phobe...this is the book for you!, 26 Aug 2008
If you are needing to learn both SPSS and statistics at the same time and intimidated at all by the math, this is a great book to help take you through the quagmire of both the SPSS software, the principles of statistics and make sense of it all too! Andy Field has done an excellent job at taking much of the mystery out of how and why to use the various tests. The book is comprehensive but the analysis of my research and study is focussed primarily on correlation, t-tests and regression. There are chapters in the book I will probably never read as I cannot foresee ever needing to read them. But, the book is very useful for referencing particular areas and providing a tutorial as you are working.

I love the way Andy has created and inserted his characters throughout the book - as I can identify myself as a cross between Cramming Samantha and Brian Haemorrhage.

Because I found Andy's book and CD so useful, I have not done any comparisons with other books. So, far, it has provided everything I have needed.

If you thought statatistics is complicated, this is the book for you, 21 Jul 2008
I am a post doctoral civil engineering student. I have been struggling with advanced statistics for months...when the problem was I did not have a good grasp of basic concepts. This book solved it all in a matter of days.
After reading this book.. you will be able to understand all the other more "complicated book" that you need to use.
If what you are paying for is for someone to expain stat and SPSS to you, this is your book.
Galit

Excellent, 23 Jun 2008
This book was my saviour during my dissertation. A must for any psychology student about to tackle SPSS!

Makes statistics a bit more manageable, 21 Apr 2008
I did a research project in Psychology with only very basic knowledge of statistics. I always hated statistics and tried to avoid them as much as possible. I was recommended this book, and was so glad I bought it. The style is quite refreshing and engaging, filling you with confidence as you learn.

At times it is a bit over-detailed, and you have to sift through to get to what to what you need, however, this is a strength of the book. I've seen some other books which explain what you do, but not why. Leaarning how principles can be applied to various situations is far more beneficial, as it's rare that your data will be similar to the examples in a book. If you're willing to spend just a little bit of time with it, you will find that you have a good basic knowledge of statistics, able to tackle increasingly complex problems

A lifesaver, 11 Mar 2008
To my undying shame, despite more than a decade in market research and now holding the exalted title of Research Director, I'm still a bit hazy about statistics. This excellent book, of which I've bought two copies and recommended to many others, provides a clear and engaging description of both simple and complex statistical concepts. And it comes with a free CD! Unfortunately, it's of SPSS files rather than Andy Field's favourite music. This book has stopped me getting found out, and it might do the same for you.

Great little book (That has like 1600 pages), 14 Jan 2008
As a med student..i found that this book covered basically anything i have needed to know in a simple..easy to understand fashion.

Everyone i have spoken to has a copy of this book..and uses it on at least a weekly basis. The book covers material from the very basics to the complex..and managed to acheive this without being patronising or condescending..all in all a great book

Fantastic, 06 Apr 2007
This was one of my best (and most recommended) must-buy books for any pharmacy/pharmacology student that needs an in-depth knowledge of pharmacology. This is one of the books that got me through my MPharm degree. The concepts are presented with amazing clarity and the pictures in this book say more than a thousand words (yes, they really are that good). A highly recommended book for any student that needs an all-round pharmacology book.

The main reason I'm a Pharmacist, 21 Aug 2006
An absolute gem of a book. Probably the best value for money from any book i purchased in my MPharm degree. I totaly recommend it for any body who needs an indepth knowledge of pharmacology.

A wealth of information, 09 Feb 2006
This book contains absolutely everything you will need to know in Pharmacology univeristy course units. The text is very small, so can get a bit boring reading it but, like I say, there's a hell of a lot of stuff crammed in there. Lot of diagrams and text boxes to summarise the heavy stuff. Definitely worth a read.

Depends on levels of info needed, 16 Jan 2006
I bought this book after reading the reviews on here which appeared to say that was probably the best pharmacology book available. I have found as a med student, there is often not enough information on specific drugs and their actions, and many drugs aren't in the book at all. Myself would recomend Lange instead.

An excellent little book, 18 Jul 2008
This little gem of a book should be in every backpackers back pocket. Concise, focused and descriptive you'll have no trouble identifying the plants and shellfish. There has been some comments about lack of information on animals to eat, this is probably because rabbits, pheasants and such are classed as game and will belong to the landowner. Whilst it's ok to pick a few plants, mushrooms and shellfish it will probably be frowned on if you start blasting away at the countryside or setting traps!

A Handy Pocket Volume, 13 Aug 2007


Richard Mabey is the author of several books on flora and fauna so he is well qualified to write a book such as this. Over one hundred edible plants are featured together with recipes and other culinary information. There is also information on how to pick and when to pick and the regulations on picking which are very important. As I come from farming stock I have to say that food for free does not mean going into a field and digging up a few potato plants or for that matter cabbages.

There are plenty of hedgerow plants available for free, if you are prepared to look for them and suffer the odd few scratches. There is nothing better than a bowl of freshly picked blackberries or raspberries, if you can get them home before they are all eaten.

Plants that are edible are fully illustrated and described and the recipes are both old and new. Other fascinating information is how the plants have been used through the ages. An ideal book for all those who are nature lovers and like the idea of something for nothing. I think the last part covers 99.9% of the population.

Good Introduction, 02 May 2007
I bought this book recently through a desire to understand the countryside around me and try some of its natural foodstuffs.
The book is very well presented and includes an excellent foreword by the author. It provides a basic explaination of the various flora, a little of their natural and culinary history and there are nice photographs with identification hints.
I think I would like to have seen more recipies and ways in which they might be implemented. In the section dedicated to Spring I think there are only three recipies with much of the other suggestions directed towards salads. On balance a satisfactory purchase but I think that if my interest in wild foods develops I will certainly have to follow up my purchase with something more wholly dedicated to the culinary.

Excellent pocket sized guide, 05 Feb 2006
This is a 2004 version and worthy addition to the very popular and pocket-sized Collins Gem series. ISBN 0-00-718303-8. Food For Free - A Fantastic Feast of Plants and Folklore.

The book starts with an introduction by the author Richard Mabey. It then has short sections titled 'Roots', 'Green Vegetables', 'Herbs', 'Spices', 'Flowers', 'Fruits', 'Making Jellies and Jams' and 'Nuts'. They include general advice, observations and uses. The main section of the book is given over to identification, with at least two pages per entry. An interesting section follows titled ’Picking Rules’ which gives advice on how to pick correctly how to stay safe. The last section before the main body of the book is a summary calendar which groups the picking times for entries into a colour-coded calendar - very useful as a quick reference.

Every entry is accompanied with a drawing. Most of the drawings are excellent, but one or two are a little small and thus less detailed. Fortunately, almost every entry also has a photograph. The combination of colour drawings and colour photographs is what makes this little pocket book a true 'gem'. If the drawing is a little weak, the photo will be excellent and vice-versa. Almost fool proof.

Each entry starts with the common English name (Latin is in small type at the top of the page)a colour illustration and description. Taking Beech (at random), it says: 'Widespread and common throughout the British Isles, especially on chalky soils. A stately deciduous tree, with smooth, grey bark, to 40m (130ft). Leaves: bright green, alternate, oval. Flowers: male drooping, stalked heads; female in pairs. Fruit: four inside a prickly brown husk, Sept-Oct. When ripe this opens into four lobes, this liberating the brown, three-sided nuts.' The illustration depicts a leaf, spring twig with unopened buds, an opening husk revealing nut inside and bare nut. The article continues with headings; Harvest/Pick, Uses, Beech Nut, Beech Nut Oil, Beech Leaf Noyau. The photo at the end of the entry is a good close-up of a twig with a cluster of husks. (I didn’t know, for example, that ‘fresh from the tree Beech leaves are a fine salad vegetable, as sweet as a mild cabbage though much softer in texture’.)

The book, in line with its title, covers Plants and Trees, Fungi, Seaweeds and Shellfish. There is a glossary at the end and a page devoted to further reading. There is a List of Recipes and finally an index of entries in common English or Latin.

There aren't that many books devoted to 'British' wild foods so to find one which lists over 100 edible plants, berries, mushrooms, seaweed and shellfish is most welcome. Given the true pocket size measurements of the Collins Gem series of books, the price of a fiver (£4-99) and the quality of each entry, this is as good as it gets. Obviously not a benchmark reference work or field-guide, but at least this fits in the pocket - which is the main purpose of such books, isn't it? Five stars!

Excites the interest but not actually that practical, 26 Oct 2005
This is an excellent book but in the wrong package. Richard Mabey does a very good job of giving a seasonal guide to what's out there that you can have for free and does a respectable job of telling you how to use it. It falls short in two respects;

First it is not a comprehensive guide to any particular food source so while he may tell you how to cook ceps and morels and gives a reasonable guide to identifying it without this being a comprehensive guide to fungi you will never be entirely certain that what you have is a cep or a morel. To some extent that is true for everything he shows whether its fungi, nuts or fruit.

The second point is more significant for a book on foraging and is that this edition is simply too big to take into the field. In some ways this isn't a significant problem as because the book isn't comprehensive it wouldn't be the choice to take into the field with you.

This book falls somewhere between the coffee table forager's manual and Delia goes wild. Both of which might sound like criticisms but for someone who hasn't foraged wild food previously both of those would be the ideal starting point. If that's you then buy this book and read it but leave it at home when you go out and get a good field guide to take with you.

Note - since writing that review I have realised that this is available in several editions. Some of the other editions are small enough to use as a field guide.

jean genie, 05 Oct 2008
Dawkins is excellent while he sticks to biology
however he may have lost the plot in the last chapter
as he has in thinking promoting science involves attacking
religion
If an evangalist is someone who does not leave people to work
it out for themselves but pushes his point of view Dawkins is one
Nutty Baptists and Dawkins looked similar on channel 4 for example
ie they both spin world events too far to promote a point of view

Imaginative guessing, 13 Sep 2008
I have attempted to read Dawkins's books on a few occasions but seldom get beyond the first 100 pages. I simply find his style of writing boring and his theories pure imaginative guesswork; I cannot take this author's ideas onboard yet biology fascinates me and especially that of epigenetics which seems to disprove all that this author advocates. I suspect that there is a snobbery value to those who support him. Irrespective of his academic standing I cannot avoid regarding the author as an imposter as I constantly want to wage war with his views. Admittedly, he comes across publicly as a very plausible academic but, that does not sway me.

Blind theorizing, 27 Jun 2008
Dawkins writes that "the argument of this book is that we, and all other animals, are machines created by our genes" (p.xxi) and that "We are survival machines - robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes" (p.xxi). Yet, according to him, this book "is not science fiction; it is science" (p.xxi)!

Dawkins contrives to overlook the twin discoveries that:
1. the observable traits of organisms are mostly conditioned by the interactions of many genes;
2. most genes have multiple effects on many of these traits.

Dawkins transfers characteristics with which he is familiar from human behaviour on the macro-level to the inanimate components, "genes", of which we are physically constructed. He then proceeds to argue that these impersonal entities, which he imagines to possess characteristically human traits, infallibly generate the same unpleasant traits in human behaviour on the macro-level. So he writes: "The gene is the basic unit of selfishness" (p.36).

The absurdity is evident in that genes or other nonconscious entities cannot be either selfish or unselfish. They cannot "compete" against anything or "choose" anything.

If Dawkins were right, what would be the point of declaring, as he does: "Let us try to *teach* generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish" (p.3)? For if we really were machines, as he believes, even these very concepts would be meaningless to us. And certainly his oratory could have no effect whatever on our actual behaviour.

In fact genes do not force us to behave in any particular way. Neither can they possess the ability to direct or to comprehend all that is required to adopt a course of either heartless selfishness or heartfelt, sacrificial compassion.

The arguments in this review have been challenged by the claim that Dawkins himself answers these charges. His claim is, in effect, that that "the evolution of behavioural reactions or patterns via natural selection" and "control by nonconscious mechanisms" are two vastly different ideas. Also it is said that Dawkins does not deny a freedom of choice as the very last lines in this book itself "celebrate the human ability to make choices that transcend genetic control and instinctive reactions." So it is said that Dawkins "repeatedly draws clear distinctions" to prevent his readers from jumping to the conclusions expressed above.

However, there is a vast difference between asserting that such distinctions exist and actually laying a solid theoretical foundation for such distinctions. To lay the kinds of foundations which Dawkins does and then to go on to insist that these foundations do not lead to their logical conclusion is nothing less than an act of faith on Dawkins' part. It certainly does not bestow any validity upon Dawkins alleged distinctions. The bottom line is that Dawkins' presuppositions simply do not lead logically to the sort of distinction which he asserts.

Essentially this debate is an argument not about data, but about underlying assumptions. Here is a example of what I mean:

ASSUMPTION: 1. "evolution is true";
DATUM: 2. "human beings have consciousness";
ASSUMPTION: 3. "therefore evolution is capable of generating consciousness".

Once again, it is a case of "garbage in, garbage out" (as Dawkins himself would say).



Scientifically sound but philosophically flawed, 29 May 2008
Darwin's theory of evolution is no doubt a successful scientific hypothesis, and Prof. Dawkins brings across this very clearly. However, I do have some doubts regarding his philosophical assertions.

Essentially Prof. Dawkins believes that:

1) Selfishness and competition is at the root of all biological phenomena - nature as "red in tooth and claw"
2) There is no basic "dis-continuity" between humanity and other animals - humans are not qualitatively different from other animals
3) There is however no ethical dilemma between this basic fact and the human desire for goodness - since descriptive and normative realities are intrinsically separate (what is and what should be are independent of each other)

Yet the basis for point 3) - the inherent seperation of "what is" and "what ought to be" is just a philosophical assertion. Prof. Dawkins is very correct in stating that the belief in God and all other religious assertions should be treated and critically analysed as scientific hypotheses. However, strictly speaking this should go beyond the subject of religion to include every other field of human intellectual activity, including of course philosophy itself. If we treat the assertion "'what is' is fundamentally separate from 'what ought to be'" as a strict scientific hypothesis in the same sense that "God exists" is treated as such a hypothesis, then it has to be said that it is no more than just a blank assertion without any kind of empirical justification.

In other words, Prof. Dawkins is mistaken in assuming that his particular view of evolution and Darwinism does not leave us with an ethical dilemma, because it evidently does. The only argument Prof. Dawkins has offered against this is the mere assertion that "what ought to be" must be seperate from "what is", yet this assertion, just like religious assertions regarding God, cannot be scientifically or empirically proven.

Still great after all these years, 24 Apr 2008
Despite being over 30 years old, this book is still a powerful and exciting account of how life, including humans, came to be. The examples and explanations (aphid & ant coexistence, fluke worms in snails) are breathtaking in their descriptions of the natural world, and could easily awaken an interest in zoology in the casual reader.

a must read book, 05 Oct 2008
This is one of those books that you read and then imemdiately want to purchase for virtually everybody you know - the ones who will already agree, and the ones who will argue (using bad science) until they are blue in the face.
This is an amusing, informative and very interesting read that addresses some highly disturbing stories, such as the MMR media hoax, MRSA testing, "studies" involving thousands of children, the qualifications of certain "doctors" and many more besides.
At the same time as drawing our attention to these issues we also learn about scientific testing, statistics, health related matters and more, but in a way that amazingly is not patronising, not overly simplified and highly entertaining.
This is a book where you definitely learn a great deal, but laugh a lot at the same time. This was one of those books where I found myself "tsktsking" and shaking my head whilst on the bus, and exclaiming "hah, listen to this" to my bemused housemate whenever something particularly caught my attention.
I would urge everyone to read this book, it should be compulsory reading for teens and adult alike. I have a feeling a lot of my friends may find this in their stocking this xmas!
Now stop reading reviews and add it to your basket ;-)

An Example To Us All, 03 Oct 2008
This is an important book, which should be read by everyone. The spread of "foo" and "pseudoscience" is creating a world of superstition and irrational thinking, which needs to be corrected before the advances of the Enlightenment are lost to history. When people are bombarded with "science" which has been "modified" and/or "selected" by PR departments, from every direction, it's hardly surprising that such garbage is given the credibility it doesn't deserve. In this book Ben Goldacre shows just how close to home it can be.

He writes in a very chatty style and the first word that came to mind was "passionate". The misrepresentation and deliberate misleading of the public by the media, is clearly very close to Ben's heart. As others have said, it is very similar in style and content to the website, which is hardly surprising.

All-in-all a creditable and important first effort which deserves all the positive reviews. I hope he can do more in the future. What would be even more satisfying though, would be if other scientists and journalists could follow his example and show this "pseudoscientific" garbage for what it really is. An excellent read. Buy it !

An excellent primer in your bulls**t detection studies, 02 Oct 2008
A quick, well-paced, well-structured and all-round excellent introduction to critical thinking and cutting through the media myth surrounding everything.

Everyone should read this.

Rational Thinking for an Irrational Time, 29 Sep 2008
As the 'vaccines cause autism' fallacy is rearing its head again, this time in America, this is a timely book.

Spread the word, 29 Sep 2008
Just finished reading this book and was enthralled from the beginning. As a (tut-tut) humanities graduate my knowledge of science is unfortuately mainly from the media. This book should be a must read for every single person who has ever read a "tomato ketcup cures cancer" type article. It's easy to read, fun and opens a whole world of interest.

Since it's very much critising the media, I would suggest its very unlikely to be promoted widely in said same media. Therefore I emplore you to read and spread the word to everyone you know.

Pop Scientism & the Gospel of Fundamentalist Atheism, 07 Oct 2008
As we move into the late modern era Scientistic ideology, having somehow failed to sweep everybody along in its wake into the rationalist program of the 'Enlightenment' with its pipe-dreams of universal progress, finally grows angry, insecure, arrogant, intolerant, reductionistic.

Reading Richard Dawkins' book one is left not so much with the impression of his effectively debunking religion as much as his desire to usurp and replace it with a new secular-atheistic pseudo-gospel founded on Pop Scientism and Darwin-made-easy, Scientism as religion, constituting the new Church with its white-coated priesthood, its own sacraments, miracles and way to salvation. As the prophet of Fundamentalist Atheism Richard Dawkins certainly engages with his pulpit-pounding with a rare evangelistic fervour. In one of his more hubristic moments he even stated that Science has explained 99% of the physical universe and thus we no longer need what he and his ilk invariably dismiss as 'fairy stories' (everything aparently from the Bible to the Prajnparamita-Sutra to the works of William Blake and the art of Rogier Van Der Weyden.) For myself the old dictum of the schoolmen still holds firm - Omnia Exeunt in Mysterium - in reality for all his biological researches Richard Dawkins knows nothing more about where we come from, why we are here and where we are going than do any of the rest of us.

Science belongs to the empirical, quantitative domain (and within that limited scope its results are valid enough) but Religion, Art, Love and Poetry belong to the mysterious and qualitative sphere of human experience and Dawkins for all his myopic rants cannot really dismiss millenia of human experience much as his brand of reductionistic pop scientism wishes to. Truth be told man is a worshipping creature and the religious impulse is innate in human nature, even if in the end it can be deflected into consumerism, political cults, materialism, scientism or whatever idolatry is the flavour of the day. And whilst not dismissing the hypocrisy and injustice perpetrated in the name of religion in reality we have seen that the real horrors of the 20th century from Hiroshima to Bhopal have been the fruit of ethically-rudderless use of scientific technologies and relentlessly mechanised warfare, often deployed in the name of allegedly scientific forms of totalitarian politics from the dialectical materialism of Communism and the Social Darwinism of Nazism to the 'Economic Darwinism' inculcated by the proponents of unbridled Global Capitalism in our own day.

Anyway you won't find any real wisdom amid the fractious and tiresome polemic of Dawkins' writing, that's for sure.

Exposes ALL religion for the nonsense it is, 07 Oct 2008
Dawkins exposes the crumbly foundations upon which all 'faiths' are based. When laid bare by the cutting edge of scientific reason, it is unbelievable that we still live in an age infected by this nonsense. For those religious apologists who gave this book one star - try reading it first.