The truths out there

The one thing you begin to notice in this book is that propagating a reflexive scepticism and sowing discord aren't terribly difficult, especially when there's a vested interest willing to pay for it

The Misinformation Age

How False Beliefs Spread

Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall

Yale University Press 

266 pages; $26

Down to Earth

Politics in the New Climatic Regime

Bruno Latour

Translated from the French by Catherine Porter

Polity; 128 pages; $14.95

Alternative facts: The term manages to be tedious, ridiculous and perilous at once — a real sign of the times. For anyone who doesn’t remember, Kellyanne Conway introduced it in early 2017 to defend the White House’s falsehoods about attendance numbers at Donald Trump’s inauguration the week before. There she was on “Meet the Press,” serenely chiding an exasperated Chuck Todd for being “overly dramatic” as