Science with Impact - Anne Helen Toomey ****

It may be a cliché that many scientists are bad communicators - but that doesn't make it untrue. All too often, scientists either don't want to communicate outside their own circle, or are very bad at it - but the reality is, both from a funding viewpoint and to make sure science has a positive impact (a keyword in Anne Helen Toomey's assessment of how scientists should look at their communication) we need scientists to be better at engagement.

The opening of the book leans quite heavily on Star Trek, which might divide audiences a bit - one danger in communication is thinking that everyone else shares your enthusiasms, though as it happens, it works for me. (Incidentally, I don't know how a self-designated Trekker, apparently a 'more distinguished term' than Trekkie, could refer to the 'USS Starship Enterprise', a bit like referring to Dr Doctor Toomey.)

There's an element here that's similar to books like How to Talk to a Science Denier, looking at why some don't follow scientific consensus (Toomey has an excellent example in a US island that's disappearing due to climate change impacts, but the residents won't accept this). But there's more to Toomey's book. Science denier challenging books (and many scientists) use an approach that approximates to 'My view is right, can't you see that, stupid?' But Toomey suggests we can learn lessons from the eradication of polio from India in a very short timescale by listening rather than lecturing. And that we need to concentrate more on social influence than on straight information like the leaflets beloved of health services, or catchy slogans. The two keys, she suggests are direct contact with people with appropriate scientific views and redundancy in provision (with, of course, an appropriate ability and attitude in communicating to others with different starting points).

There's plenty more, for example, on the importance of researchers sharing information with those who are involved in their area of study (for example environmentalists giving useful information to farmers). It's not unreasonable for the non-scientists to ask 'what do I get out of this?' especially when the science is funded by the public. Toomey also looks at peer reviews, ways to communicate and the importance of moving from the idea that science proves things to a better understanding of uncertainty.

There's relatively little here on better writing, which is perhaps the biggest omission. Toomey rightly emphasises that better writing is not enough - but the fact remains that not only are most scientists' attempts to communicate with the public poor, the majority of scientific papers are badly written as writing per se. I may be be biased, but I think scientists could make more use of science writers to communicate with the wider public. Overall, though, an important and thoughtful contribution to the debate on both how get the message of science across and how to ensure it results in appropriate action. (Just a shame the price of the book isn't mass market.)

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here