Category: Book & movie reviews

Alex Jones

The Truth vs. Alex Jones: How the DSHEA of 1994 gave conspiracy mongers the means to fund their empires

As the HBO documentary The Truth vs. Alex Jones shows, Alex Jones promoted the conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax to sell his supplement line. It's a model that many Internet conspiracy theorists use, like Mike Adams. Did the DSHEA help create Alex Jones and the modern conspiracy industry?

/ April 1, 2024

The Grand Debunk of the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down” (part 5/10)

The fifth installment in the grand debunk the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down”: Chapter 5.

/ September 7, 2023

The Grand Debunk of the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down” (part 4/10)

The debunking resumes with the fourth installment in debunking the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down”: Chapter 4, “Epidemiology 101," in which the antivax authors put a biased spin on basic concepts in epidemiology as a lead-in to their obviously intended purpose of claiming that all the studies finding vaccines to be safe and effective should be discounted.

/ August 10, 2023

The Grand Debunk of the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down” (part 3/10)

The third installment in debunking the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down”: Chapter 3, “Deficient by Design: The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)”.

/ July 25, 2023

The Grand Debunk of the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down” (part 2/10)

The second installment in debunking the antivaxxer book "Turtles All the Way Down": Chapter 2, supposedly concerned with “The Science of Adverse Events”.

/ July 16, 2023

The Grand Debunk of the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down” (part 1/10)

This book — written by "Anonymous", edited by Children's Health Defense lawyer Mary Holland and Children's Health Defense Publisher Liaison and Thinking Moms’ Revolution co-founder Zoey O’Toole, and published by "The Turtles Team" — purports to use only mainstream references to prove its points. But the book employs all the standard tropes in a master class of science denial and antivax tactics...

/ July 13, 2023
Virulent: The Vaccine War

Virulent: The Vaccine War virtual screening

More tidbits from Virulent: The Vaccine War. Have you purchased your virtual ticket to stream it and be part of the Q&A with the filmmakers hosted by Drs. Gorski and Novella on Jan. 29?

/ January 21, 2023

Quack Quack

Joe Schwarcz's new book Quack Quack is an informative and entertaining look at quackery and pseudoscience past and present. A delightful read.

/ January 3, 2023

Tomasz Witkowski Busts More Myths

Tomasz Witkowski has written another book filled with skepticism and critical thinking.

/ November 1, 2022

The Plant Paradox: Steven Gundry’s War on Lectins

Most of what Steven Gundry says in his book The Plant Paradox is demonstrably wrong. There is no science-based reason to avoid lectins.

/ October 25, 2022