The world needs more Ben Goldacres. There's a lack of both good science reporting and a lack of science meta-reporting. Although I'm a fan, I can get a bit frustrated with Dr. Goldacre's writing. His tone is sometimes off. He can be circumspect or almost coy at times instead of being direct. Other times he comes off as worked into a lather. And this has me thinking of butchery.
Commonly used as a metaphor, "to butcher" is intended to imply a crude, violent, hackery of a given task at hand. Having watched good butchers at work, this could not be less apt. Skilled butchery is strenuous but also precise, efficient, and elegant. Cuts are not wasted. The butcher knows exactly where and when to use the saw, the cleaver, or the surgically-sharp knife. I am reasonably competent at cutting whole chickens into pieces, but was transfixed watching my butcher do so for a customer the other day: so few cuts, so quickly and neatly done, so tidy the results. It's time to reclaim this metaphor.
Goldacre knows when he's got a carcass to work on, but he doesn't always know how to butcher it. Which brings me to Michael Eades. His essay here is a great example of fine butchery. If you reading nothing else on his blog, read that one. If you enjoyed that, here's a more recent study that's well-butchered by Dr. Eades.
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