Considering the current discussions about the difference between fact and fake, The Matter of Facts is a highly relevant attempt to capture “everything you always wanted to know about science but were afraid to ask.” Its twenty-five chapters discuss scientific evidence from various perspectives, ranging from philosophy of science to the dynamics of flaws and fraud. It does not attempt to provide an overall account, because such an account could not explain sufficiently the current practice of science with all its messiness and uncertainties. “The big picture can hide ugly detail” (95).
The book is written by father and son, the father a scientist, that is to say, a professor of experimental physiology, and the son a sociologist. The consequence of this cooperation is that the discussions are mainly centered around the sociology and history of neuroendocrinology, a laboratory science almost completely the opposite of history of economics. Nevertheless I...
