It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Science Fictions

Science Fictions

Exposing Fraud, Bias, Negligence and Hype in Science

Summary

'Required reading for everyone' Adam Rutherford

Shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize 2021

Medicine, education, psychology, economics - wherever it really matters, we look to science for guidance. But what if science itself can't always be relied on?

In this vital investigation, Stuart Ritchie reveals the disturbing flaws in today's science that undermine our understanding of the world and threaten human lives. With bias, careless mistakes and even outright forgery influencing everything from austerity economics to the anti-vaccination movement, he proposes vital remedies to save and protect science - this most valuable of human endeavours - from itself.

* With a new afterword by the author *

'Thrilling... Reminds us that another world is possible' The Times, Books of the Year

'Excellent... We need better science. That's why books like this are so important' Evening Standard

Reviews

  • Thrilling ... Ritchie reminds us that another world is possible
    The Times

About the author

Stuart Ritchie

Dr Stuart Ritchie is a Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London and winner of the 2015 ‘Rising Star’ award from the Association for Psychological Science. He has written for The Times, Spectator, Washington Post, Wired, Literary Review and Aeon, and has appeared on BBC Radio 4 programmes The Infinite Monkey Cage, More or Less and Bringing Up Britain. His Twitter account is @StuartJRitchie.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more