by James Kreiger - Weightlogy
Jun 232010
Extract:
In my last post on Gary Taubes and his book Good Calories, Bad Calories, I stated that I would do a chapter-by-chapter critique of the book, starting with Chapter 14, “The Mythology of Obesity”. In this chapter, Taubes begins to create a mystery that doesn’t actually exist. He does this through a combination of logical fallacies, selective quotation of out-dated scientific data, and leaving out existing data that conflicts with his statements.
Taubes opens the chapter with this sentence:
“Critical to the success of any scientific enterprise is the ability to make accurate and unbiased observations.”He then goes on to say:
“…if the initial observations are incorrect or incomplete, then we will distort what it is we’re trying to explain.”Taubes is correct in these statements. Unfortunately he doesn’t follow his own advice. [etc]
