Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity

Overview

Now in paperback: The major national bestseller that the New York Times says "tosses sand on liberal sacred cows"

John Stossel -- award-winning journalist, tireless consumer-rights crusader, and anchor of ABC's newsmagazine 20/20 -- has built his reputation on his willingness to debunk conventional wisdom, no matter the source. In his latest New York Times bestseller, which has sold more than 200,000 copies in hardcover, he busts the myths, lies, and downright stupidity clogging media outlets on all sides of the spectrum. Taking a shovel to the heaps of misinterpretations and outright mistakes passing for "fact" these days, Stossel proves:

--That contrary to popular belief, Americans have more free time now than ever before;
--How DDT could actually save millions of lives annually, if only we hadn't been wrongly convinced it caused cancer;
--That Republicans don't shrink government -- they expand it;
--Why bottled water is a rip-off (hint: not only doesn't it taste better than tap, it's no healthier either!);
--How "defective product" lawsuits end up depriving us of safer products;
--Why it's okay to marry your cousin;
--And much, much more.

Bursting with facts, sharp insights, and plain old common sense, Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity is a modern muckraking classic.

Editorial Reviews

ABC News correspondent Stossel mines his 20/20 segments for often engaging, frequently tendentious challenges to conventional wisdom, presenting a series of "myths" and then deploying an investigative journalism shovel to unearth "truth." This results in snappy debunkings of alarmism, witch-hunts, satanic ritual abuse prosecutions and marketing hokum like the irradiated-foods panic, homeopathic medicine and the notion that bottled water beats tap. Stossel's libertarian convictions make him particularly fond of exposes of government waste and regulatory fiascoes, which are usually effective but lead inexorably to blanket denunciations of "monster government" and sermons on the wisdom of the market. Sloganeering--"Myth: The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) will make America less sexist. Truth: The EEOC will torment people and enrich lawyers"--sometimes crowds out objectivity. The author's complacent glosses on overpopulation and global warming ("we can build dykes and move back from the coasts") are especially glib and one-sided. Fans of Stossel's similarly opinionated bestseller Give Me a Break will eat up this new book, but other readers may wince when the author's ideology overshadows the facts.
Copyright (c) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
-- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of John Stossel

John Stossel is the anchor for 20/20. He has received nineteen Emmys and been honored five times for excellence in consumer reporting by the National Press Club. His book Give Me a Break was also a New York Times bestseller. A graduate of Princeton University, Stossel lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

• A must read, pure common sense!

  Posted May 18, 2009 by J Gutierrez, toronto

  A non-nonsense approach to basic misconceptions, misunderstandings and lies spread around by special interests or ignorant alarmists. Stossel shows basic common sense and knowledge about the issues he addresses. An excellent book for everybody..

Additional Info

Imprint

Hyperion

Filesize

1.95 MB

Number of Pages

320

eBook ISBN

1401390005