Science and the Citizen: Contemporary Issues and Controversies edited by Marco Mamone Capria

Abstract

Capria organizes the Science and Democracy conferences in Italy (http://www.dmi.unipg.it/~mamone/sci-dem/sci&dem.htm), which cover a wide range of topics typically critical of mainstream ideas and actions. This book contains a selection of essays presented at a conference or posted on his website. Four pieces grouped under the heading Brave New Science and Its Discontents address societal interactions of science with economics and corporatism. Experts and Participatory Democracy includes questions of risks, environment, nuclear energy. Corporate Medicine includes my essay, Evidence-Based Medicine? Wishful Thinking, David Rasnick on AIDS Drugs Cause AIDS and Death, Martin Walker on The Bigger the Lie—The Wakefield Case, and Rocco Maruotti on Ethics, Surgeons, and Transplantation. Public Opinions, Official Lies, and Whistleblowers focuses on conspiracy theorizing, explanations of the 9/11 events, an interview with the activist mathematician Serge Lang (now deceased), and Lang’s file on suppression of dissent in contemporary science. The final essay, by Anthony Liversidge, is a delightful description of the ambience of the Science and Democracy conferences. Every anomalist and contrarian should find some things of interest in this volume. Libraries should be urged to add it to their collections.