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Icon Books Doctored Fraud, Arrogance and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimers.
Doctored Fraud, Arrogance and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimers ABISBOOK Icon Books.
- GenresScience
352 pages, Hardcover
Published February 13, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 1, 2025
Well researched and shocking expose of fraud in the field of clinical research, especially in the Alzheimer’s research community. Has made me question what needs to be added to the critical appraisal of literature that I teach as a hospital librarian.
September 14, 2026
I always want to read books about health scandals, so this already went to the top of my list. But I know very little about Alzheimer’s so this was another reason for wanting to read it.
It’s estimated that 1 million people in the UK live with Alzheimer’s, and over 7 million in the USA, and this nasty disease can begin up to 20 years before someone starts to lose their memory! (alz.org)
First of all, I love the way it’s been set out. Each chapter starts with a heading and a quote, with a visually appealing layout, and none of them are too long. It starts off with a personal story about Stephen, a man involved in an Alzheimer’s drug trial, but every chapter contains interviews, discoveries, reports, personal stories and insight into Alzheimer’s disease and the drugs currently being developed or already on the market.
It’s a very well-researched book by Charles Piller, an investigative journalist for Science, that had me hooked from the very beginning. It really is disgusting how much fraud has taken place in the Alzheimer’s research field over the years, which has set both researchers and patients back by so many years.
Throughout the book we learn more about people with Alzheimer’s and how it has impacted them and their families, and it’s heartbreaking that they’re clinging on to any ounce of hope of a drug that will lessen the symptoms of the disease. I really do hope a cure isn’t too far away, but this book did make me feel quite depressed about that.
If you have any interest in Alzheimer’s, cognitive conditions, medical fraud or research in general, this should be your next read!
It’s estimated that 1 million people in the UK live with Alzheimer’s, and over 7 million in the USA, and this nasty disease can begin up to 20 years before someone starts to lose their memory! (alz.org)
First of all, I love the way it’s been set out. Each chapter starts with a heading and a quote, with a visually appealing layout, and none of them are too long. It starts off with a personal story about Stephen, a man involved in an Alzheimer’s drug trial, but every chapter contains interviews, discoveries, reports, personal stories and insight into Alzheimer’s disease and the drugs currently being developed or already on the market.
It’s a very well-researched book by Charles Piller, an investigative journalist for Science, that had me hooked from the very beginning. It really is disgusting how much fraud has taken place in the Alzheimer’s research field over the years, which has set both researchers and patients back by so many years.
Throughout the book we learn more about people with Alzheimer’s and how it has impacted them and their families, and it’s heartbreaking that they’re clinging on to any ounce of hope of a drug that will lessen the symptoms of the disease. I really do hope a cure isn’t too far away, but this book did make me feel quite depressed about that.
If you have any interest in Alzheimer’s, cognitive conditions, medical fraud or research in general, this should be your next read!
November 15, 2025
I had the audio book which is not ideal for a non fiction read as I would really like to read back some parts.
I can appreciate the difficulties in dealing with replicating experiments and the convenience and temptations sometimes to doctor some data to serve the arguments. This is even more common in a business world. In this case, we are dealing with science and progress of ridding of ailments, so this is a line that is hard to cross. The book never explained sufficiently why people ended up “cheating” - maybe mostly through modeling by examples of their mentors of leaders. A broader view is that as someone who deals with data (who does not these days ?), ultimately our choices to tweak data no matter how minor may have significant consequences.
I can appreciate the difficulties in dealing with replicating experiments and the convenience and temptations sometimes to doctor some data to serve the arguments. This is even more common in a business world. In this case, we are dealing with science and progress of ridding of ailments, so this is a line that is hard to cross. The book never explained sufficiently why people ended up “cheating” - maybe mostly through modeling by examples of their mentors of leaders. A broader view is that as someone who deals with data (who does not these days ?), ultimately our choices to tweak data no matter how minor may have significant consequences.
July 18, 2025
Important and scary. A careful and well-researched journey into fraud and error in Alzheimer's research.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews