Bullshit isn’t what it used to be. Now, two science professors give us the tools to dismantle misinformation and think clearly in a world of fake news and bad data.

“A modern classic . . . a straight-talking survival guide to the mean streets of a dying democracy and a global pandemic.”—Wired

Misinformation, disinformation, and fake news abound and it’s increasingly difficult to know what’s true. Our media environment has become hyperpartisan. Science is conducted by press release. Startup culture elevates bullshit to high art. We are fairly well equipped to spot the sort of old-school bullshit that is based in fancy rhetoric and weasel words, but most of us don’t feel qualified to challenge the avalanche of new-school bullshit presented in the language of math, science, or statistics. In Calling Bullshit, Professors Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West give us a set of powerful tools to cut through the most intimidating data.

You don’t need a lot of technical expertise to call out problems with data. Are the numbers or results too good or too dramatic to be true? Is the claim comparing like with like? Is it confirming your personal bias? Drawing on a deep well of expertise in statistics and computational biology, Bergstrom and West exuberantly unpack examples of selection bias and muddled data visualization, distinguish between correlation and causation, and examine the susceptibility of science to modern bullshit.

We have always needed people who call bullshit when necessary, whether within a circle of friends, a community of scholars, or the citizenry of a nation. Now that bullshit has evolved, we need to relearn the art of skepticism.

About the Author

Carl T. Bergstrom is an evolutionary biologist and professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Washington, where he studies how epidemics spread through populations and how information flows through biological and social systems at scales—from the intracellular control of gene expression to the spread of misinformation on social media.

Jevin D. West is an associate professor in the Information School at the University of Washington. He is the director of UW’s Center for an Informed Public and co-director of its DataLab, where he studies the science of science and the impact of technology on society. He also coordinates data science education at UW’s eScience Institute.

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Oblivion Books is a general used bookstore with both an on-line and physical presence in Seattle?s Seward Park neighborhood. Oblivion Books features a wide-ranging inventory of books, ephemera, DVDs, CDs, LPs, and original artworks. Oblivion Books is owned and operated by Edward Guerriero, an independent used and rare bookseller since 1993. Oblivion Books buys and sell books, DVDs, CDs, LPs, original artworks, and ephemera daily in and around the Seattle area. Oblivion Books purchases small estates or entire collections, and we make prompt house calls. We have been buying book estates and media collections for over 25 years, and we pay above the industry standard for your used and rare items. We are happy to travel outside the Pacific Northwest for especially large and rare book libraries, film, and music collections. Please contact us by email eddieoblivion@gmail.com or by telephone (206-355-8308). Oblivion Books is also a vehicle for the cultural production of books, ephemera, music, and film. Please see www.oblivionbooks.com/productions to peruse and purchase our current and forthcoming projects. Oblivion Archives assembles collections in various cultural domains. Oblivion Archives currently holds archives with a concentration on the printer matter and original documents of the Dada movement, Fluxus and Fluxus related artists, and the Letterist and Situationist International (Internationale Lettriste and Internationale Situationniste).

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