Johann Hari’s Stolen Ideas • Hacker News Board

Re: Johann Hari’s Stolen Ideas

#11

Post by halo » Sun, Jan 09, 2022, 4:05 AM UTC

JasonFruit wrote: post #5

From this article, it doesn't sound like Hari's books are anything unusual: most topical, with-the-times popular non-fiction is poorly sourced and relies on assertions instead of scholarly or scientific studies — and that's fine! It's okay to have an idea, think about it hard, and write about it, even if you can't prove that your thesis reflects reality. It's better and more worthy of respect if you can, of course, b…

I agree there’s nothing inherently wrong with non-experts, typically journalists, expressing opinions, perspectives, and anecdotes in long-form, especially on topical subjects.

I just wish there was an easy way to find and separate it from actual and more rigorous scientific and expert-driven non-fiction. They often look similar at first glance but there’s a world of difference between, say, Kahneman and Gladwell.

Re: Johann Hari’s Stolen Ideas

#12

Post by gnicholas » Sun, Jan 09, 2022, 4:13 AM UTC

This is the first I've heard of Hari's ethical lapses. Wish it had been mentioned in the recent HN thread [1] on his new book!

1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29768539

Re: Johann Hari’s Stolen Ideas

#13

Post by krrrh » Sun, Jan 09, 2022, 6:33 AM UTC

benjaminwootton wrote: post #4

I didn’t know this back story, but I thought Lost Connections was very insightful, and he is very credible in his PR: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5vGQgHxUDx2KMhy34N2959?si=j... I always thought he had a strange way of being interviewed where he cites sources and studies for almost everything he says. I thought this was commendable at the time rather than putting a thin veneer on other peoples ideas. Maybe it was…

I think it is a response to the accusations of plagiarism and quote fabrication. When he was trying to reclaim respectability he released a companion website to Chasing the Scream that had extensive transcriptions and audio excerpts of source interviews for all direct quotes in the book [0]. It went way beyond what the vast majority of authors do, but it would be nice to see more of that sort of thing in the publishing industry.

[0] https://chasingthescream.com/interviews-2/

Re: Johann Hari’s Stolen Ideas

#14

Post by prionassembly » Sun, Jan 09, 2022, 1:31 PM UTC

halo wrote: post #11

JasonFruit wrote: post #5

From this article, it doesn't sound like Hari's books are anything unusual: most topical, with-the-times popular non-fiction is poorly sourced and relies on assertions instead of scholarly or scientific studies — and that's fine! It's okay to have an idea, think about it hard, and write about it, even if you can't prove that your thesis reflects reality. It's better and more worthy of respect if you can, of course, b…

I agree there’s nothing inherently wrong with non-experts, typically journalists, expressing opinions, perspectives, and anecdotes in long-form, especially on topical subjects. I just wish there was an easy way to find and separate it from actual and more rigorous scientific and expert-driven non-fiction. They often look similar at first glance but there’s a world of difference between, say, Kahneman and Gladwell.

> Kahneman and Gladwell.

Eh, that's not all. There's a long lineage of accomplished people going cuckoo. And Nobel prizes appear to be an amplifying factor, from Shockley and Pauling to Mullis and Krugman.