On Fact and Fraud

The strength of this slim volume is that the author knows and understands his subject well and can talk from experience and from the heart. -- Michael J.G. Farthing Times Higher Education Physicist David Goodstein asks why some scientists are driven to misrepresent results. His book On Fact and Fraud uses well-known cases to look at how science is conducted and to remind us that not all 'fraudulent' scientists are guilty. -- Joanne Baker and Sara Abdulla Nature A textbook on scientific ethics that begins with a primer on inductive reasoning and ends with university guidelines for research conduct sounds dull, but David Goodstein has created an entertaining book studded with laugh-out-loud moments... Goodstein's candour and humour make this book a delight to read, and he's very good at explaining physics, too. -- Jonathan Beard New Scientist On Fact and Fraud is a thought-provoking analysis of scientific ethics and, in particular, the way the 'reward system' and 'authority structure' of research can lead people astray. -- Clive Cookson Financial Times Offers a useful and lucid account of different examples of scientific fraud or misconduct, and describes the motivations or risk factors. Federal Technology Watch A genial guide, [Goodstein] shows that sometimes the deciding line between fact, self-delusion and outright fraud is hard to spot. -- Peter Forbes The Independent This excellent little book ... challenges some of the conventional notions of where the line lies that separates good from bad or real from phony science. -- Harry Eagar Maui News Sadly for science, not all fraudsters get caught. For starters, David Goodstein says, serious misconduct isn't always easy to identify. Self-deception, an ends-justifying-means mentality and concealing controversial research can muddy the ethical waters. Goodstein, head of the fraud squad at Pasadena's California Institute of Technology, claims it's possible to set up protocols to reduce faking, fabrication and plagiarism. -- Leigh Dayton Australian