Merchants of Doubt

Erik M. Conway and Naomi Oreskes, both historians of science, trace how a small group of scientists with ties to industry and conservative think tanks worked to cast doubt on settled science. They draw parallels between the global warming dispute and earlier fights over the ozone hole, DDT, acid rain and tobacco smoke, finding the same strategy each time: keep the controversy alive long after a consensus has formed. Physicists Fred Seitz, Fred Singer and Bill Nierenberg are at the center, and the authors describe them as fierce anti-communists who saw regulation as a step toward socialism and, after the Soviet collapse, cast environmentalism as a threat to free markets. Robert Kenner turned it into a documentary film in 2014.

Elon Musk recommended that people read it, remarking that creating doubt is all they need to do.