This book is a good antidote to overly-rosy depictions of the scientific process (I’m looking at you, Starry Messenger). It gives many examples of how the incentive structure scientists work within has led to the publication of poor-quality research.
A lot of the general issues the book discusses are things I’d heard about before. One thing I hadn’t heard is that misidentification of which cell lines were used in a given experiment is a widespread problem. That’s surprising.
Something else I was surprised to read: Ritchie insists that misleading, overhyped summaries of scientific research can’t just be blamed on journalists, because the researchers themselves are often involved in crafting the press releases.