I got this hardcover from a local Savers thrift shop. It's an often-harrowing look at the way science has been warped, ignored, or suppressed for political gain - or out of fear of change; from the time of Galileo to the current political climate, lobbyists and academic rivals and political power-seekers attempt to quash the science they dislike. The book goes into some horrifying examples of the deliberate defamation of the characters of some scientists in order to render their work distasteful. Since I have a fondness for logic I've never understood why people can't do the work - or appreciate it when others do it - to prove or disprove specific concepts, and then deal with the results, but apparently not everybody feels that way...

The book uses specific types of studies as examples, including the diagnosis and treatment of people born intersex, and the distinctions between that and those who are transgender. There are some hopeful notes - the default treatments are no longer as draconian as they once were - but there's still a long way to go.

The author admits the difficulty of making informed decisions on information that's either very hard to get - or is available in such vast quantities that it's difficult to sift (the modern internet situation often falls into this category). She also rues the lapsing of the Fourth Estate and of serious investigative journalism as newspapers fall by the wayside thanks to the internet and social media. Her descriptions of her own efforts to get at the truth even at the cost of her own career plans give me hope...

I left this book in the Little Free Library inside the entrance of the CYAA on this snowy day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2020 Head Shoulders Knees Toes challenge. ***