Science Left Behind

July 30, 2012
This joint effort from microbiologist Berezow and Campbell, editor and founder of Science 2.0, begins by decrying 2007's "Progressive War on Spoons," an ostensibly eco-friendly initiative championed by Congressional democrats to "Green the Capitol," but which ended up wasting money and being incredibly inefficient. From there, the duo addresses a broad range of subjects in layman's prose in an effort to educate, elucidate, and enrage readers about the misinformed science of the Left. Berezow and Campbell do not deny that the Right is similarly ignorant. Thus, while their politics skew towards the conservative, their nonpartisan message is clear: Washington as a whole is woefully uninformed when it comes to the scientific underpinnings of pertinent topics like stem cell research, green energy, organic food, vaccines, and gender issues (addressed in a chapter absurdly titled "Boys Have Wee-Wees and Girls Have Hoo-Hoos"). While frequently illuminating, Berezow and Campbell employ sweeping generalizations (e.g., "n truth, Europe is a nice place. European countries have good food.") that often undermine convincing arguments. And their list of 12 issues that would require a blend of science and politics is underwhelmingâamong them: "Managing resources efficiently" and "Addressing global poverty."