[pimmen]

I'm Swedish and yes, it was almost insufferable when this book was the hotness during the past two years, but this is hardly "one of the biggest scientific bluffs of our time". It's not even the worst one that got mainstream in Sweden. Electromagnetic hypersensitivity[1] is far more stupid and God knows how much money has been wasted on shielding people from electromagnetic fields by local governments. Hell, just the fact that this has been debated and taken seriously by politicians and government officials is astounding to me. It's a sad reflection on the state of physics literacy in my country.

So, stupid? Yes. One of the worst pseudo-scientific scandals ever to have swept over Sweden? Not even remotely close.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivi...

[fastball]

I think it is less "physics literacy" and more a complete lack of teaching and using critical thinking / reasoning. For whatever reason, the West in general (and maybe the world) seems to be spending less and less time on critical thinking and more time on picking a side and then running with it. I have no idea if this is true or just a feeling I have, but if I was a betting man and it is, I would blame media and short attention spans.