Is That a Fact? Frauds, Quacks, and the Real Science of Everyday Life

Hoping to help people inundated by information do a better job of separating the good from the bogus, Schwarcz (McGill Univ.; The Fly in the Ointment; Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs) covers a lot of ground in relatively few pages. He explains critical thinking and the need for better teaching of it, and then gives more than 60 instances of when it has and hasn't been used. The author divides the resulting miniessays into black (covering phenomena that are "pretty dismal when it comes to facts," such as homeopathy), gray ("a blend of facts and falsehoods," e.g., the Twinkie diet), and white ("factual, at least as far as present evidence indicates," such as how the Olympic torch burned underwater). Schwarcz's mix of historical and current examples demonstrates how gullible many of us continue to be despite the learning opportunities frauds and quacks have provided.