Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Non-fiction

Age Recommended: 14 and up

I read this book for my AP Government class, and while I really enjoyed the point that it made, I think that McIntyre could have done a better job of presenting a nonpartisan perspective. He seems to cherry pick the evidence that he uses for this book, and his absurdly large number of sources seem to be there just for decoration. I wish that he had done a little more work on counterarguments rather than ranting about alt-right echo chambers and presenting ridiculous straw-man points.

This is the era of post-truth, where we use our heart more than our head, and science is partisan.

Take the example of climate change for example. In the late 1990s, 98% of scientists agreed with the evidence that climate change was an anthropogenic phenomenon, and the issue was presented as such in the news. Nobody really contradicted centuries of evidence for the sake of political gain.

But now, we see something drastically different. Even though the 98% statistic hasn’t changed, over 30% of the population now believes that climate change is a hoax. This has occurred because political figures are looking for issues to capitalize on; they present global warming as something that is 50/50 instead of what it truly is: fact.

Climate change is only one instance of this phenomenon, but countless other examples exist, and they all point towards a terrible future: one where we are unable to identify what truth is.

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If you would like to read this book, you can purchase it here: Post-Truth (MIT Press Essential Knowledge series)

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