The Misinformation Age

James Owen Weatherall is a professor and Cailin O’Connor an associate professor in the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California at Irvine. They discuss fake news, misinformation and propaganda, explaining how these problems spread, how they subvert crucial social structures and what to do about them. Some of their suggested solutions are idealistic, but their ideas derive from a realistic understanding of misinformation and how it defines the current social environment.

Though their academic peers gave this book respectful reviews, a more accurate assessment came from The New York Times, which called it “methodical and earnest.” The New York Times Book Review listed it as an editor’s choice and Scientific American offered it as recommended reading. Perhaps your reaction to Weatherall and O’Connor’s thoughts will depend upon how much you already know about fake news and how it spreads.