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Pandora’s Lab
- Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong
- Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
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Pandora’s Lab
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Publisher's Summary
What happens when ideas presented as science lead us in the wrong direction? History is filled with brilliant ideas that gave rise to disaster, and this book explores the most fascinating - and significant - missteps.
Pandora's Lab takes us from opium's heyday as the pain reliever of choice to recognition of opioids as a major cause of death in the United States; from the rise of trans fats as the golden ingredient for tastier, cheaper food to the heart disease epidemic that followed; and from the cries to ban DDT for the sake of the environment to an epidemic-level rise in world malaria.
These are today's sins of science - as deplorable as mistaken ideas from the past such as advocating racial purity or using lobotomies as a cure for mental illness. These unwitting errors add up to seven lessons both cautionary and profound, explained by renowned author and speaker Paul A. Offit. Offit uses these lessons to investigate how we can separate good science from bad, using as case studies some of today's most controversial creations: e-cigarettes, GMOs, and drug treatments for ADHD.
For every "Aha!" moment that should have been an "Oh no", this book is an engrossing account of how science has been misused disastrously - and how we can learn to use its power for good.
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What listeners say about Pandora’s Lab
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- fiona
- 30-03-2024
Fantastic!
Highly informative, well written and absolutely loved the moments of humour! I highly recommend this book to anyone who makes decisions for others!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Edward
- 14-03-2024
Lessons to use science better
Well explained stories of how people did the wrong thing by not using science properly. Gives details on key individuals, how society suffered as a result, and how we might be able to prevent it happening again.
Took one star off because the focus is almost entirely on the Western world, even when the story affected other countries. Though that may be the difficulty for the author to access those details.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-01-2022
Very interesting
Super interesting stuff ups in science from geniuses and egomaniacs. Food for thought ensues
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 22-12-2021
A fascinating look at the other side of science.
A great peek behind the curtains at scientific discoveries that seemed like a good idea at the time.
Well written and very well performed.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Betina Kroner
- 22-02-2022
Needs different subtitle
It was really interesting and I learnt so much, but I think the subtitle is wrong. Science hadn’t gone wrong, it either produced unexpected results or was used for bad.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Yelena Vlasova
- 01-03-2022
Essential listeing
For those who are curious, for those who are still in school, for philosophy students and the general public alike...
This book is about the human race and our relentless desire to learn things (sometimes to our own detriment) to advance humanity further.
It is also about tragic mistakes, huge egos and the importance of knowing your history, so the mistakes of the past can't be repeated.
Highly recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anne Fraser
- 06-04-2022
Fascinating read
Loved it. Such interesting examples of science gone wrong, headlines over facts, bias, & the lessons to be learned in each case. As a doctor, who likes to reassess her own biases, & view data / news headlines with a degree of scepticism, I really enjoyed this book.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-04-2022
Ideology of Author bit off
Great history of events and well written. But I cringe everytime the author gives his morale conclusions, especially in the Haber chapter. It's as if he thinks the cost of ammonia production was too high. That is how science works, solve a problem and sometimes generate new ones, but you repeat the process to solve those. He tried to cloud this great discovery by detailing Habers contribution to weapons of war. But that is irrelevant. Sure complain about fertilizer practices and efforts to protect the environment. But don't lead the audience to think we were better off not manufacturing ammonia, which would be impossible anyway, if not Haber someone else in short order would have done it. Generally scientists are the first to identify the trade offs and non-scientists to ignore them for profit. Your attempt to portray the scientist as the villian is inaccurate. Michael (PhD chemistry, industrial chemist in fertiliser manufacture).
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1 person found this helpful
