Product Description

We are being overwhelmed by nonsense about science, medicine and history. False information - 'counterknowledge' - has reached epidemic proportions. This hard-hitting and controversial book leads the fight back.We are being swamped by dangerous nonsense. From 9/11 conspiracy theories to Holocaust denial, creationism to alternative medicine, there is now an epidemic of demonstrably untrue descriptions of the world.For Damian Thompson, these unproven theories and spurious claims are forms of 'counterknowledge', and, helped by the internet, they are creating a global generation of misguided adherents who repeat these untruths and lend them credence.'The sleep of reason brings forth monsters', warns the title of Francisco Goya's famous etching of 1799. As Damian Thompson demonstrates, unless the defenders of enlightenment values fight back soon, the counterknowledge industry has the potential to create new political, social and economic disasters.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79806 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Review
"'An invigorating trumpet blast against the monstrous regiment of twenty-first-century quacks, flat-earthers and mumbo-jumbo merchants, loud enough to wake reason from its sleep.' Francis Wheen 'This excellent little book... should be put in the satchel of every secondary school child, in the departmental pigeonhole of every undergraduate, and in the hands of every officer of every quango called Ofsomething. Widely enough read and clearly enough understood, it might save us from the tsunami of misinformation, falsity, error and distortion that infects our culture.' A C Grayling, New Humanist * 'Powerful, compelling and necessary - in this book Damian Thompson takes a blowtorch to sloppy thinking and stands up for enlightenment values with dash, authority and aplomb.' - Michael Gove * 'The few hours it will take you to read this passionate, angry, wise and witty book will be well spent. You will have a lot of fun and at the same time be armed to the teeth against the many modes of quackery that are abroad today and the ethos that has permitted them to flourish.' - Raymond Tallis * 'Counterknowledge is more than just a thoroughly enjoyable demolition job of every type of modern quackery. Damian Thompson shows how what to us appears harmless pseudo-science breeds nationalism, race hatred and disease.' - Nick Cohen"

A. C. Grayling, New Humanist
'Excellent... Widely enough read and clearly enough understood, 'Counterknowledge' might save us from the tsunami of misinformation, falsity, error and distortion that infects our culture... Superb.'

Irish Examiner
'The perfect little riposte to the cultic milieu in which we suddenly, somehow, appear to have found ourselves... Now we can counter the counterknowledge.'

Customer Reviews

Forceful yet lightweight
A good read but quite slight. Although I did agree with most of the author's arguments it was mostly because I was familiar with them already. I can't imagine that this would likely convince anyone who believes in 'alternative' notions of reality as it doesn't really examine them with any real rigour.

I'm still looking for the definitive book on all things 'woo' and though this is not it, it's still a decent primer into the world of 'Counter-Knowledge'.

Where the subject of this book -counter-knowledge- begins and ends I don't know and from the author's definition I'm still not entirely clear. Given the author's occupation as a writer for a christian publication, what defines orthodox knowledge for him may not chime with everyone else's definition.

Still, I believe at least he is nominally on the side of rationality and reason. Even if some of his personal beliefs, for me, make him a target of his own argument.

Hypocritical elements of truth
Firstly, the good points. This book points out many of the more dubious beliefs held by sections of society, and indeed justifiably, it seems, calls for people to open their eyes to many of the highly suspect techniques used by pioneers of 'counterknowledge' in the conveying of their work: 'Loose Change', for example, taking situations out of context and cropping photos to bias their account of events, thus encouraging sceptism of such notions as 9/11 conspiracy theories.

However, the book's downfall is ironically preset in its own approach to 'facts'. Unfortunately, Thompson's reasoning, scattered citations and poorly disguised subjectivity in his portrayal of counterknowledge ultimately mirrors his criticism of how counterknowledge is spread in the first place. For example, in the same paragraph of describing how the 'cultic milieu', in their stupidy, basically think everything is conspiratorial and unrealistic once they accept one conspiracy, he goes on to make the generalisation that since 9/11 is supposedly an unjustified conspiracy, so must be the case with ESP, UFOs, Bible Prophesy, near-death experiences, and so on. This sort of generalisation becomes ubiquitous as the book progresses; and thus Thompson forms his own 'cultic milieu', which should probably be renamed 'sceptic milieu' - as it seems just about as valid to presume that all conspiracies and unlikely events are false as it is to presume that all are true. I see this book as a piece of counterknowledge in itself by the way it arrogantly presents all its inferences and conclusions as fact, thus being as misleading to the weaker-minded reader as the likes of Dan Brown - only on the opposite end of the spectrum.

This said, 'Counterknowledge' does have SOME valid points and, albeit at the expense of its integrity, is an entertaining read.

Fighting the fictionalisation of fact
Everyone always goes on about this and that being a 'necessary' book. It is rare to find one that really is necessary as well as being hugely entertaining and thought-provoking.
Thompson writes in clear, elegant prose which belies his deep research of the subject matter. The argument put forward is clear, ratonal and of interest to anyone who's dismayed by the conspiracy theory and easy answer culture of our decade. Previous reviews have mentioned the author's (purported)Catholicism but these purely ad hominem attacks miss the point. Even if you don't agree with Thompson's targets (and with holocaust denial, homeoipathy and creatonism - you'd be remiss not to) then this book is still a valuable treasure trove of methodology. Thompson lays out a process by which all 'knowledge' can be emprically tested. This is so essential that it's a surprise no one teaches it to kids in school.
Oh, did I also mention that te book is funny? well, that it is; acerbic and witty in all the right places. In an age where believeing in UFOs and believing in DNA are accorded the same credibility by the masses, this is that rare thing, a truly necessary book whose lessons you can take with you and apply to anything. In the years to come, this will be seen as a ground-breaking text on destroying dogma and piffle....make sure you read it now and arm yourself against the exigencies of fiction masquerading as fact.