The pandemic has intensified existing grievances and brought them into focus, it is said again and again when the lessons to be learned from the crisis are discussed.

The thesis can be proven in many areas of society.

The interplay between science and the public may be a particularly catchy example.

Even before Corona we had to do with extensive campaigns of disinformation, there was the impression of increasing skepticism about science and a declining ability to reach a consensus in society, it was discussed how politically scientists should or should act, the question arose as to whether one should really demand to stand behind the Gathering science.

Sibylle Anderl

Editor in the features section.

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    For the chemist Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, that was motivation enough in 2017 to end her research career and switch full-time to science journalism.

    Starting with the question of what it could mean to listen to science and how a better social discourse could work on this basis, she has now written a book.

    Her second book after her bestseller “Komisch, alles chemisch!”, Which was published in 2019, was published a year after the start of the pandemic and seems like an answer to the events and discussions of the past few months - although the pandemic would not even have been necessary.

    In a conversational tone about correlation coefficients

    “The smallest common reality” is the almost philosophical title. But anyone who expects a reflective meta-examination of the problem of increasingly incommensurably divergent understandings of the world is thinking in the wrong direction. Nguyen-Kim approaches the problem in a very practical way by using eight controversially discussed scientific questions to practice what it means to listen to science and to face a differentiated discussion. She takes topics such as the legalization of drugs, the safety of vaccinations or the inheritance of intelligence as an opportunity to shed light on the methodological background of scientific findings in detail.

    In this way, she promotes a position between the two extreme poles of uncritical enthusiasm for science on the one hand and conspiracy-theoretical skepticism of science on the other.

    Her youthful and personal conversational tone reminds us that the science journalist, who has meanwhile won practically all relevant awards, has her roots on YouTube.

    However, it should not be confused with superficiality: the reader is not spared concepts such as statistical significance, p-hacking or correlation coefficients.

    Immune to disinformation

    Knowledge of the methods is important, without them an assessment of scientific knowledge is impossible - this is a core thesis of the book, which is illustrated in the main part. What the smallest common reality is all about will only be dealt with explicitly in the final chapter. A common understanding of “what really is reality” is a prerequisite for constructively arguing with one another. This is the only way to actually move forward in the important social discussions. However, this common understanding can be provided by the scientific consensus that it is the best approximation of the truth. At this point, Nguyen-Kim finally has to invest some educational work again,to differentiate scientific consensus from beliefs and to characterize it as a product of scientific discussion culture. Their hope: Those who understand all these mechanisms and have a general scientific education are immune to disinformation and ready for targeted debates.

    All of this can only be supported, as can the basic intention of the short book to promote a better culture of discussion about the societal challenges that are decisive for the future. At best, you are left with the question of whether things are sometimes a bit more complicated, especially when it comes to making quick decisions based on uncertain information and making difficult weighing processes against the background of competing values. Scientific understanding may be necessary, but perhaps not necessarily sufficient for constructive arguing. In any case, the book has hit a nerve in the current situation.

    Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim: “The smallest common reality”. True, False, Plausible? The biggest controversial issues scientifically examined.

    Droemer Knaur Verlag, Munich 2021. 368 pp., Hardcover, 20.00.