杏吧原创

In 1990 thousands of people in Missouri followed a scientist鈥檚 advice and
prepared for an earthquake. The trouble was, he was a zoologist鈥攁nd the
catastrophe never happened. Christopher Toumey鈥檚 Conjuring Science (Rutgers
University Press, $16.95, ISBN 0 8135 2285 4), marshals examples of how
widespread ignorance of science in the US makes people trust its
symbols鈥攕uch as technical terms, credentials and standards of
proof鈥攐ver substance. Toumey has cut a real gem of anthropology.