Cover image for
Title:
A survival guide to the misinformation age : scientific habits of mind / David J. Helfand.
Author:
Helfand, D. J. (David J.), 1950- author.
Publication Information:
New York : Columbia University Press, [2016]
Call Number:
Q172.5.E77 H45 2016
Abstract:
"This book provides an inoculation against the misinformation epidemic by cultivating scientific habits of mind. From dissolving our fear of numbers and demystifying graphs, to elucidating the key concepts of probability and the use of precise language and logic, Helfand supplies an essential set of apps for the pre-frontal cortex while making science both accessible and entertaining."--Publisher marketing.
ISBN:
9780231168724
Physical Description:
xii, 325 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Contents:
Information, misinformation, and our planet's future -- A walk in the park -- What is science? -- A sense of scale -- Interlude 1. Numbers -- Discoveries on the back of an envelope -- Insights in lines and dots -- Interlude 2. Logic and language -- Expecting the improbable -- Lies, damned lies, and statistics -- Correlation, causation ... confusion and clarity -- Definitional features of science -- Applying scientific habits of mind to Earth's future -- What isn't science -- The triumph of misinformation, the perils of ignorance -- The unfinished cathedral -- Appendix. Practicing scientific habits of mind.
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