{"id":1961,"date":"2011-05-01T01:00:56","date_gmt":"2011-05-01T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/info-libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/?p=1961"},"modified":"2023-07-20T17:52:42","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T17:52:42","slug":"1975","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/05\/01\/1975\/","title":{"rendered":"Year 115 – 1975: The Dictionary of Misinformation by Tom Burnam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published: New York, 1975\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Science uncovers truths by testing theories or predictions in trials that can be replicated, and at MIT, science is king. But in the wider world, misinformation runs rampant.<\/p>\n

Familiar phrases are often actually misquotes that have been repeated so often that the authentic, original wording sounds strange and incorrect. In a similar vein, common fallacies and misperceptions about the world around us influence choices we make in our daily lives. In his Dictionary of Misinformation<\/em>, Tom Burnam has set out to correct some of these inaccuracies and false beliefs.<\/p>\n

Among the falsehoods exposed in this book:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no scientific evidence that copper or any such metal worn on the wrists or ankles has an effect on arthritis.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNo fan, electric or otherwise, cools the air.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cLeap year. This event doesn\u2019t invariably occur every four years\u2026only when the year is exactly divisible by four \u2013 except centenary years not divisible by four hundred.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cDespite pseudo-scientific advertisements for various cosmetics and soaps, the pores do not \u2018breathe.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To correct some other widely-held misconceptions: though someone once said \u201cLet them eat cake\u201d (or something closely equivalent), that person was not Marie Antoinette. Goats do not eat tin cans. The punctuation of the song title is actually \u201cGod Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.\u201d The letters \u201cSOS\u201d don’t really stand for anything. And in none of the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will you find the phrase \u201cElementary, my dear Watson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still no word, however, on whether cats really do always land on their feet.<\/p>\n

Find it in the library<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published: New York, 1975 Science uncovers truths by testing theories or predictions in trials that can be replicated, and at MIT, science is king. But in the wider world, misinformation runs rampant. Familiar phrases are often actually misquotes that have been repeated so often that the authentic, original wording sounds strange and incorrect. In a similar vein, common fallacies and misperceptions about the world around us influence choices we make in our daily lives. In his Dictionary of Misinformation, Tom Burnam has set out to correct some of these inaccuracies and false beliefs. Among the falsehoods exposed in this book: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":false,"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1961"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4396,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961\/revisions\/4396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}