Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity by John Stossel: The famous 20/20 anchor takes on a large number of commonly held beliefs and discusses whether or not they are true. I learned quite a bit about a broad range of subjects, and Stossel’s straightforward writing style is immensely readable. However, I have a feeling that if I was a die-hard believer in any of the myths covered here I would have left unconvinced and unimpressed. The trouble with this book is that there are too many topics discussed with not enough depth. Most of the myths are covered in a page or two, with a couple of general statements, maybe some statistics or interviews, and an example to illustrate his point. Unfortunately, the plural of anecdote is not data, and I suspect many people dismiss Stossel’s words out of hand because of it. That’s not to say people should avoid this book on the grounds that it doesn’t dig very deep; some of the myths are covered quite thoroughly and even with the ones that weren’t I still came away with a lot to think about and some stuff I’d like to look into further. I just think Stossel’s message would be more effective if he wrote a book with a narrower focus and a lot more detail.