Guardian columnist Ben Goldacre needs no introduction here, and in his book the crusader against quackery is on top form. With rapier logic Goldacre skewers big pharma, the media (aka promoters of "the public misunderstanding of science") and misusers of evidence everywhere. His aim is to teach readers how to spot mumbo jumbo so that they become "future-proofed against new variants of bullshit". But as well as being educational, his demolitions are hugely entertaining. Homeopathic pills "work no better than placebo"; detox is, scientifically speaking, a "meaningless concept"; nutritionism (his bête noire) is the "bollocks du jour", a trendy way of saying: eat your greens. Bad Science is the best exposé of human gullibility since Ben Jonson's The Alchemist. There's an extra chapter in the paperback after vitamin-pill manufacturer Matthias Rath dropped his libel case against Goldacre and the Guardian. Rath claimed his multivitamins were the "natural answer to Aids", a shocking reminder that alternative therapies are not just about ear candles but can involve life or death decisions.