Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth

I didn't realise this was a vampire book until I was well into it. I would not have chosen to buy it because of my prejudice about vampires and literature, however, the concept of the book is redeeming and engaged me. It works well as a "vampire-book-for-grown-ups".

Cade is a 160 year old vampire who is morally chained to the Office of the US President and who ultimately is the only person left to solve a crisis. The characters are believable and push the story forward. At times I felt there were too many people as new characters are introduced all through the book.

The back story and context is dealt with very well. Most chapters start with a quote from an "official" text which provides information necessary to understand the characters and the plot. Towards the end (trying not to provide a spoiler...) there is some confusion over whether there are three or four "thingies". It felt like the author originally had three and then edited to change to four, changing the numbers but not specific plot details. It took me three read-backs to work out what was going on. Until then the narrative flowed smoothly.

The vampire protagonist is a great character and I'd happily read another book by the same author with Cade in the lead. Though I'll be expecting the plot to be less convoluted and easier to follow.

Minor note to the author and publisher: the title Blood Oath has been used in other books, in a popular Star Trek episode and in vampire games. Consequently, an Internet search does not bring up details of this book without a bit more digging.

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre

I can't recall ever before reading a book three times. I may even read it for a fourth time. This is a best-seller and truly deserves its position. It needs to be a compulsory textbook for all scientists, journalists, healthcare professionals, teachers, parents - well, everyone can benefit by digesting its contents.

Ben Goldacre has carved a niche for himself in highlighting the daft and downright dishonest reports that abuse statistics to sell products, pills, methods and interventions. If he writes a sequel, it hope he names it something like "Wise Up, You Idiots!".

Through compelling and sometimes controversial case studies, Goldacre teaches the reader how statistics can be and are manipulated for the benefit of some. Although I am not too bad at handling statistics I finished this book, each time, with a far greater understanding of the analysis, manipulation and presentation of data. For me, the best best aspect of the book is the totally no nonsense approach of the writing. It is perhaps toned down a wee bit compared to his blog http://www.badscience.net/.

So if you want to know the statistical facts behind the Brain Gym, the Media's MMR Hoax, Dr Gillian McKeith, Homeopathy, Professor Patrick Holford and other juicy topics which form part of our perceived wisdom, then read the book - at least twice.