Pandoras Lab
What happens when ideas presented as science lead us in the wrong direction History is filled with brilliant ideas that gave rise to disaster, and this book explores the most fascinating and significant missteps from opium s heyday as the pain reliever of choice to recognition of opioids as a major cause of death in the U.S from the rise of trans fats as the golden ingredient for tastier, cheaper food to the heart disease epidemic that followed and from the cries to ban DDT for the sake of the environment to an epidemic level rise in world malaria These are today s sins of science as deplorable as mistaken past ideas about advocating racial purity or using lobotomies as a cure for mental illness These unwitting errors add up to seven lessons both cautionary and profound, narrated by renowned author and speaker Paul A Offit Offit uses these lessons to investigate how we can separate good science from bad, using some of today s most controversial creations e cigarettes, GMOs, drug treatments for ADHD as case studies For every Aha moment that should have been an Oh no, this book is an engrossing account of how science has been misused disastrously and how we can learn to use its power for good. New Read Pandoras Lab [ By ] Paul A. Offit [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr I ve finished the book It s really brilliant and very thought provoking I don t usually write summaries, but for this one I will because it is so interesting and so few people read in this genre Eugenic is the most personally chilling to me.1 Opium view spoiler the first and best painkiller discovered by the Sumerians around 6,000 years ago They obviously had no problems with it as a recreational drug either, naming it hul gil plant of joy And therein lies its problems Opiods have caus I ve finished the book It s really brilliant and very thought provoking I don t usually write summaries, but for this one I will because it is so interesting and so few people read in this genre Eugenic is the most personally chilling to me.1 Opium view spoiler the first and best painkiller discovered by the Sumerians around 6,000 years ago They obviously had no problems with it as a recreational drug either, naming it hul gil plant of joy And therein lies its problems Opiods have caused wars the Opium Wars in China and massive misery, as they continue to today from the illegal heroin to the legal Oxycontin hide spoiler 2 Margarine view spoiler promoted as the healthy alternative to butter.It wasn t quite that full of saturated fat...For the most part, I really enjoyed this book However, there is one negative for me and it is a big one, knocking this off the 5 star shelf down to 4 I ll get the reason for it out of the way first, and then let you know why I mostly loved it The title is misleading Maybe that doesn t sound like enough of a reason to warrant chipping off an entire star from the rating, but here s why When a large portion of the American public distrusts science and the scientific process, saying the book is For the most part, I really enjoyed this book However, there is one negative for me and it is a big one, knocking this off the 5 star shelf down to 4 I ll get the reason for it out of the way first, and then let you know why I mostly loved it The title is misleading Maybe that doesn t sound like enough of a reason to warrant chipping off an entire star from the rating, but here s why When a large portion of the American public distrusts science and the scientific process, saying the book is about SCIENCE gone wrong is just not a good thing It s not SCIENCE that is wrong It is people taking scientific results and either manipulating them to suit their own purposes, or jumping the gun and not collecting enough data before implementing something It s not a sin of science it s human beings ignorance or mani...4.5 stars Let me start of by saying that I m not a big nonfiction reader, so the fact that I m giving this almost five stars definitely says something about how accessible and interesting the content is The author looks at different inventions, most of them well intentioned, which had unforeseen, detrimental sometimes even disastrous consequences It reads like a who s who of Nobel prize winners Although the discoveries and consequences are interesting enough, the author provides us with tho 4.5 stars Let me start of by saying that I m not a big nonfiction reader, so the fact that I m giving this almost five stars definitely says something about how accessible and interesting the content is The author looks at different inventions, most of them well intentioned, which had unforeseen, detrimental sometimes even disastrous consequences It reads like a who s who of Nobel prize winners Although the discoveries and consequences are interesting enough, the author provides us with thought provoking facts as rates of immigration have increased rates of crime have decreased , wonderful tidbits because the pri...This is by far the longest review I ve ever written, but I feel like it is my responsibility, as a scientist interested in education, to fully express the degree to which this book is problematic and misleading The premise of Pandora s lab is to discuss surprising examples of science gone bad There are many issues with this, but one of the biggest is that if you have read other science books or listened to pretty much any podcast, you will already be familiar with most of these stories, to This is by far the longest review I ve ever written, but I feel like it is my responsibility, as a scientist interested in education, to fully express the degree to which this book is problematic and misleading The premise of Pandora s lab is to discuss surprising examples of science gone bad There are many issues with this, but one of the biggest is that if you have read other science books or listened to pretty much any podcast, you will already be familiar with most of these stories, told in a better andinteresting way Most of the time in the book, I wanted to wave my hand and say yeah yeah we all have heard this story before many...Eye widening, well told tales of science gone wrong, Pandora s box is not a harangue against science I hate the war on science that is going on in the United States right now.This isn t that it s a treatise on what goes wrong when mostly well meaning people promote pseudoscience to either make money, become famous, or out of willful ignorance.The most horrific and poignant stories to me were the ones about forced sterilization and lobotomy that took place in the United States Forced sterili Eye widening, well told tales of science gone wrong, Pandora s box is not a harangue against science I hate the war on science that is going on in the United States right now.This isn t that it s a treatise on what goes wrong when mostly well meaning people promote pseudoscience to either make money, become famous, or out of willful ignorance.The most horrific and poignant stories to me were the ones about forced sterilization and lobotomy that took place in the United States Forced sterilization took place in America so that we could hold on to our superior Nordic genes The proponents of this movement first legislated to...5 fantastic starsHistory is the error we are forever correcting Anthony Marra, The Tsar of Love and Techno From the noble fight to ease patient pain came destructive and highly addictive substances like morphine, heroine and OxyCotin.From the desire to createfood for the world sprouted biological warfare and WW 2 gas chambers.The humble study of genetic traits in peas gave birth to the USA eugenics program In fact, this chapter succinctly outlines the fertile ground out of which Adol 5 fantastic starsHistory is the error we are forever correcting Anthony Marra, The Tsar of Love and Techno From the noble fight to ease patient pain came destructive and highly addictive substances like morphine, heroine and OxyCotin.From the desire to createfood for the world sprouted biological warfare and WW 2 gas chambers.The humble study of genetic traits in peas gave birth to the USA eugenics program In fact, this chapter succinctly outlines the fertile ground out of which Adolf Hitler s beliefs grew.There are many varied scientific discoveries dissected From the invention of lobotomies, the megavitamin industry, the AIDS HIV denial debacle that killed hundreds of thousands of people in SA and across the world I am referring to you Thabo Mbeki , to the hype around e cigarettes Even them crazy scientologists get a turn with their claim that autism is caused by worms.Our history is riddled with scienti...This was an excellent book and not much to argue against or surprise, who s not against poison gas, heroin or lobotomy But for me the most surprising chapter was on Rachel Carson s Silent Spring I don t believe going into this book that anyone could convince me, a vegetarian, organic crop lov...What an amazing educational resource Offit writes in a no nonsense, yet highly engaging way I learned a lot from this and have already recommended it to two people He provides great histories, strong data, and wraps up the seven stories with great rules about spotting fakes and charlatans. Pandora s Lab examines seven scientific breakthroughs that ultimately lead us in the wrong direction, and considers what lessons we might learn from them so that we don t make the same mistakes again.On the one hand, this is a fascinating and thought provoking book One of the highlights for me was the chapter about opioid addiction Offit manages to succinctly describe the history of this class of drugs, starting from the opium poppy plant to its recent chemical formulations that have led to a Pandora s Lab examines seven scientific breakthroughs that ultimately lead us in the wrong direction, and considers what lessons we might learn from them so that we don t make the same mistakes again.On the one hand, this is a fascinating and thought provoking book One of the highlights for me was the chapter about opioid addiction Offit manages to succinctly describe the history of this class of drugs, starting from the opium poppy plant to its recent chemical formulations that have led to a staggering addiction crisis This chapter puts into perspective and help...With the opioid crisis looming large in the Press, it is the perfect time to read Pandoras Lab because the first chapter highlights what the ancient Sumerians called hugil, meaning, plant of joy Offit traced the discovery and use of the poppy seed back to 4000BCE and followed its trajectory until the present day Who could believe that inside that tiny poppy seed, there are no less than 5 potent drugs, waiting to be harvested So much offering from one tiny seed Inside that seed is a gum l With the opioid crisis looming large in the Press, it is the perfect time to read Pandoras Lab because the first chapter highlights what the ancient Sumerians called hugil, meaning, plant of joy Offit traced the discovery and use of the poppy seed back to 4000BCE and followed its trajectory until the present day Who could believe that inside that tiny poppy seed, there are no less than 5 potent drugs, waiting to be harvested So much offering from one tiny seed Inside that seed is a gum like substance that holds the molecules that make up morphine, codeine, 2 muscle relaxants, and heroin That tiny seed holds within it the power to heal and the power to kill So powerful is the poppy, it can take away the pain created by cancer and other cruel diseases of life that ravage the body from the inside I have nightmares about traveling back in time, knowing there was so little anyone ...I listened to this on audio After only I few minutes, I realized the author has a political agenda I don t care what an author s political stance is, but unless I am reading a political book, I don t want politics sneakily integrated in I s...This is a fascinating and disturbing book that covers a lot of scientists and science and non science claiming itself to be science I ve read about some of the topics and people covered in here before in different contexts But the way this book presents and frames these stories is intriguing, chilling and important Scientists are driven by personal, cultural and political ideals and beliefs and also, sometimes, their desire to be right or to influence people and or events is muchcompell This is a fascinating and disturbing book that covers a lot of scientists and science and non science claiming itself to be science I ve read about some of the topics and people covered in here before in different contexts But the way this book presents and frames these stories is intriguing, chilling and important Scientists are driven by personal, cultural and political ideals and beliefs and also, sometimes, their desire to be right or to influence people and or events is muchcompelling to them than whether what they are doing is actually productive helpful beneficial based in reality There are pseudo scientific fads th...1 My Gripes with the Content and The Author s Opinions Pandora s Lab fascinates you with the title, and under the guff and smoke, presents stories about the advancement of science, and the lessons that need to be learnt from the reckless pursuit of technology At least, that is what the book claims in its first half Lamenting on the discovery of a technology, and blaming the technology for the way it was used was something I took an immediate offense to from the very beginning Show me a hamme 1 My Gripes with the Content and The Author s Opinions Pandora s Lab fascinates you with the title, and under the guff and smoke, presents stories about the advancement of science, and the lessons that need to be learnt from the reckless pursuit of technology At least, that is what the book claims in its first half Lamenting on the discovery of a technology, and blaming the technology for the way it was used was something I took an immediate offense to from the very beginning Show me a hammer, and I ll show you a murder weapon, show me fire and I ll show you an arsonist Listing Mendel s discovery of genetics in the list of Science Gone Wrong was probably something that I took a personal offense to because I m a biotechnologist Men...
- English
- 24 July 2017 Paul A. Offit
- Kindle Edition
- 288 pages
- Paul A. Offit
- Pandoras Lab