This semester’s CSU Writes book club participants read How to Talk to a Science Denier (2022) by Lee McIntyre, which draws on both his personal experience attending a Flat Earth convention and academic research to outline the common themes in science denialism. These themes are present in misinformation campaigns, such as the tobacco industry’s denial of the link between smoking and lung cancer in the 1950s and the anti-vaccine movement today. The result is – as one participant eloquently put it – a series of “ethnographic vignettes” that challenge our idea of how we might engage with science deniers and why it is important that we must. McIntyre’s book provides a nuanced and introspective view of the divisive rhetoric used in debates surrounding science denialism.
We would like to express our gratitude to all the participants who read the book and engaged in conversations on this increasingly exigent topic. The participants came from various academic disciplines, including but not limited to political science, atmospheric science, English, education, and clinical sciences.
If you have an interest in joining our future book club events and have any suggestions for topics or books, please let us know by emailing csuwrites_mail@colostate.edu.