Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Oct 2011
384 pages
Genre: Science, Health and the Environment
Publication Information
"Whenever the people are well informed," Thomas Jefferson wrote, "they can be trusted with their own government."
But what happens in a world dominated by complex science? Are the people still well-enough informed to be trusted with their own government? And with less than two percent of Congress with any professional background in science, how can our government be trusted to lead us in the right direction?
Will the media save us? Don't count on it. In early 2008, of the 2,975 questions asked the candidates for president just six mentioned the words "global warming" or "climate change," the greatest policy challenge facing America. To put that in perspective, three questions mentioned UFOs.
Today the world's major unsolved challenges all revolve around science. By the 2012 election cycle, at a time when science is influencing every aspect of modern life, antiscience views from climate-change denial to creationism to vaccine refusal have become mainstream.
Faced with the daunting challenges of an environment under siege, an exploding population, a falling economy and an education system slipping behind, our elected leaders are hard at work... passing resolutions that say climate change is not real and astrology can control the weather.
Shawn Lawrence Otto has written a behind-the-scenes look at how the government, our politics, and the media prevent us from finding the real solutions we need. Fool Me Twice is the clever, outraged, and frightening account of America's relationship with science - a relationship that is on the rocks at the very time we need it most.
"Starred Review. A gripping analysis of America's anti-science crisis." - Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. The accessible book will inform scientists about what has happened to their field, provide an overview for laypeople, and allow educators to equip themselves to address these issues for the next generation and reverse this troubling trend." - Publishers Weekly
"...[E]very voter in the country should read [Fool Me Twice]." - MinnPost.com
This information about Fool Me Twice was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Shawn Lawrence Otto is the co-founder and CEO of Science Debate 2008, the largest political initiative in the history of science. He is also an award winning screenwriter best known for writing and co-producing the Academy Award–nominated House of Sand and Fog. He lives in Minnesota. You can visit him online at www.shawnotto.com.
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