June 25, 2015
‘How do we know anything?’ asks Peter Doherty at the start of his lucid and entertaining new book The Knowledge Wars. Doherty guides the reader to a satisfying answer to this deep and prosaic question. Along the way the reader will explore many aspects of knowledge—scepticism, denial, faith, fraud, error—and become familiar with the history and modern practice of a very particular kind of knowledge, science. Doherty is eminently qualified to take the reader on this journey. The winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the author of several books, Doherty has a passion for science and its positive role in our modern society that is evident in this book. This is not a dry academic idyll; it bristles with intent, examining climate change, genetically modified organisms, AIDS and vaccination along the way. At the same time Doherty’s subtle humour ensures that it steps back from being strident or didactic. The Knowledge Wars is notably readable, and recommended to all who appreciate that democracy is compromised if we do not actively inform ourselves with sound knowledge.
Kevin Orrman-Rossiter is a freelance science writer, journalist and reviewer