That’s how author Sarah Vowell opens her terrific book, “The Wordy Shipmates,” which I just read. I’ve seen her interviewed but had never read one of her books. Now I can’t wait to jump into the next one.
That opening line was used by one of our medical editors, Dr. John Wong, in reviewing a health news story a while back.
It fits. It especially fits in the context of medicine – or of health journalism, for that matter – when we hear from people whose beliefs or intuition cloud their view of evidence. We’ve seen that quite a bit in discussion of various screening tests recently.
Vowell’s book, about Puritans coming to America, is thought-provoking throughout on that opening theme of the danger of a belief.
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
Come on, NY Times; you must do better than this. Important research doesn’t need hype and the “breaking news” BS doesn’t help readers or patients. https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2022/03/nyt-proclaims-breaking-news/
Our editorial team was blessed to have Sharon as a contributor during our best years. As this obit states, she was “kind, patient, wise, thoughtful and generous.” Thank you, Sharon; now rest in peace. https://journalism.wisc.edu/news/in-memoriam-sharon-dunwoody-1947-2022/
We’ve written about the hype of liquid biopsies for years (see link in comment below). And now this…. https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/12/medicare-shouldnt-cover-liquid-biopsies-early-cancer-detection/
Comments
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Patricia Laffin
February 8, 2012 at 11:58 amReally? You liked this book? It’s a hate-filled political rant with no attempt at truly understanding the Puritans, or anything else for that matter. It’s just filled with the author’s smug, self-righteous views disguised as a serious book.
Gary Schwitzer
February 8, 2012 at 9:30 pmPatricia,
Yeah, I really liked the book. I didn’t see anything hate-filled in it.
Guess this is why we have the marketplace of ideas and a free and open exchange that doesn’t always end in agreement.
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