Re:If you think psychological science is bad, imagine how ba...
by colechristensen on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @03:11PM
(#27532265)
Most popular "nonfiction" fits into this category, really.
There is a pattern to these books
* Pick a topic
* Decide on a narrative
* Pick a collection of studies to demonstrate that narrative
* Take study conclusions (which are often dubious extrapolations of data) and summarize vaguely adding additional unsupported projections, a handful per chapter
* Publish and promote
It isn't just "self-help" but nearly everything in the nonfiction section that you hear people talking about.
There is a pattern to these books
* Pick a topic
* Decide on a narrative
* Pick a collection of studies to demonstrate that narrative
* Take study conclusions (which are often dubious extrapolations of data) and summarize vaguely adding additional unsupported projections, a handful per chapter
* Publish and promote
It isn't just "self-help" but nearly everything in the nonfiction section that you hear people talking about.