Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, and Wastes Billions

Science is under siege. Ignorant profiteer politicians argue that they know better, creationists lobby for equal time in science classes, and government funding and grants continue to dwindle. But that’s not the only issue.

Every big scientific breakthrough announced on the news never seems to arrive. Cancer continues to run rampant. It feels like scientific advancement itself has halted. So what’s going on here?

Rigor Mortis attempts to answer that crucial question, exploring how scientific advancement, particularly in the biomedical field, has slowed down. Richard Harris provides dozens of examples of scientific efforts shooting themselves in the foot or squandering resources. (The issue of “publish or perish” also merits a fair amount of attention.) He argues for the need for reproduceability, accountability, smarter spending, and more rigorous standards–and, after reading this book, it’s hard to disagree.

Rigor Mortis is incredibly important scientific reporting, highlighting both the good intentions and hard work of scientists everywhere while still pointing out a major issue that should be dealt with. Now, more than ever, we need to trust in the scientific method.