The Knowledge Wars

by Peter C. Doherty

Climate scientists have warned that we need to change our behaviour in ways that may be inconvenient and threaten the commercial status quo. The result has been a polarising division in society and a sustained attack on their research.

In The Knowledge Wars, Nobel prizewinner Peter Doherty makes a passionate case for citizens to become informed so they are able to evaluate the facts of any scientific debate. It provides practical advice on how to analyse research and take meaningful action.

The Knowledge Wars challenges our assumptions and encourages us to take an evidence-based view of the world. There's something here to offend everybody!

Genres: Nonfiction, Science

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Peter Charles Doherty is an Australian veterinary surgeon, immunologist, Nobel laureate and researcher in the field of medicine.

He received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1995, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Rolf M. Zinkernagel in 1996 and was named Australian of the Year in 1997. In the Australia Day Honours of 1997, he was named a Companion of the Order of Australia for his work with Zinkernagel (Zinkernagel was named an honorary Companion). He is also a National Trust Australian Living Treasure.

Doherty's research focuses on the immune system and his Nobel work described how the body's immune cells protect against viruses. He and Rolf Zinkernagel, the co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, discovered how T cells recognize their target antigens in combination with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins.

Doherty was born in Brisbane, Queensland, where he attended Indooroopilly State High School. He received his bachelor's degree in veterinary science in 1962 and his master's degree in veterinary science in 1966 from the University of Queensland. After obtaining his PhD in 1970 from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, he returned to Australia to perform his Nobel Prize-winning research at the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra.

Doherty currently spends three months of the year conducting research at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where he is a faculty member at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center through the College of Medicine. For the other 9 months of the year he works in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne, Victoria. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1987.

John Monash Science School has a house named after him.

Reviews

[RF · Rating 2 out of 5]

Polemical, not entirely coherent exploration of the forces racked up against science. I expected better from a Nobel winner.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would have been much better as an essay, with many chapters left on the cutting floor. The chapter on the history of the scientific method, for example. Or at least a strong statement on how the history overview relates to the premise of the book. The author talks about how a good scientist doesn't necessarily make a good science communicator and...well...I think this book could have done with the help of a professional science writer. The appendices were useful and interesting, the chapters, I at least, found somewhat gruelling, sorry.

[Eddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting examination of science in general, and a call to arms for people to embrace the evidence based reality of particular issues. Climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers and the anti-GMO herd will not be pleased!

[Ariel Waldron · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the author has some interesting points, the book is rambly at times. Feels like the author should have boiled down their main points more

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘No sensible person would claim that all new knowledge has, and will, come from the practice of science as we know it today.’

Professor Peter Doherty shared the 1996 Nobel Prize for Medicine with Rolf M. Zinkernagel for discovering the role of T cells in the immune system. He is still involved in research, dividing his time between the University of Melbourne and St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

‘The Knowledge Wars’ is Professor Doherty’s fifth book. It is aimed at encouraging citizens (who are mostly not trained scientists) to become informed about important issues and to be in a position to evaluate the facts. Those issues include childhood vaccination and anthropogenic climate change, both extremely topical in Australia (and elsewhere) at present.

Take anthropogenic climate change. On the one hand, we are told that we need to change our behaviour. On the other hand we are told that any such behavioural change will impact (negatively) on our quality of life. How can we (non-scientist citizens) decide what the facts are? Who is credible? How much change is acceptable? The debate (if it can be called that) has both polarised elements of society and resulted in little effective change. If people can’t agree that there is a problem, let alone define what it is, then they are unlikely to be able to agree on how to address it. Either way, the world as we know it will change.

In relation to childhood vaccination, again very topical in Australia at present, I find it difficult to believe that anyone who has firsthand (or close family) experience of poliomyelitis or whooping cough can argue against vaccination except in very few cases on medical grounds. But people do. Is the answer compulsory vaccination (totally removing the element of choice unless there are medical grounds), or are there more effective ways of making the case for vaccination? Regardless of the choice made, people need to be able to understand the consequences (actual, possible and potential) of the choices they make.

While I really enjoyed reading this book, it is the appendices that held my attention. There are four of them: ‘Checking out a scientist’, ‘Reading the science literature’, Open access and the economics of publishing’ and ‘Peer review’. These appendices provide some good practical advice for those of us who’d like help identifying and assessing knowledge.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Melbourne University Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The biggest issue with this book is the author's fence-sitting. He very carefully avoids the outspokenness we find in the writing of another well-known biologist but in doing so he dilutes the message. Well, the message is - read things critically. The author wants you to sift through it all and separate the fact from the bunkum. It's just that the message is a little too safe, and a little too dry.

A good book nonetheless, but it could've been a better one.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the sentiment but the writing was a mess

[Bob Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 stars.