Statistician William M. Briggs does a top-down analysis of writer Malcolm Gladwell’s success: The best explanation for Malcom Gladwell’s (Blink, Tipping Point) success is provided by the Annals of Improbable Research in its Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. The editors of that esteemed journal posit that “The public loves to see and applaud scientists […]
Year: 2008
George Herter, bombasteer
The late George Herter, a self-made improbable quasi-researcher, is celebrated in a December 7, 2008 New York Times essay by Paul Collins: Herter’s magnum opus, though, was “Bull Cook,” a wild mix of recipes, unsourced claims and unhinged philosophy that went through at least 15 editions between 1960 and 1970. Herter claimed one million copies […]
The fallacy of examples: an example
Yes, I am a goat-giver, and proud of it. But— I’ve noticed in business writing in particular the frequency of what we can call the Fallacy of Examples (a type of Fallacy of Hasty Generalization). You read some story about a successful CEO as if we should learn from his (yes, usually it’s a him) […]
Mmmm, yummy … mummies!
Nowadays, powdered mummy may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for many years it was just what the doctor ordered. That’s one of the takeaway messages of Richard Sugg‘s study Good Physic but Bad Food: Early Modern Attitudes to Medicinal Cannibalism and its Suppliers. Sugg is a research fellow in literature and medicine at […]