This book simply masquerades as a scholarly book. Yes, it was printed by Cambridge University Press, and yes, both Collins and Pinch are professors. But this book is as scientific as People Magazine. Like People magazine, this book was written for the non-scientist, who may not be able to tell good scholarship from bad. Book sales rather than scholarship appear to be the goal.
The first edition contains numerous typos; four in a single chapter. This sloppy treatment is also evident in the underlying logical flaws. And, for the most part, the book has very few footnotes, which leaves you wondering where they got their revisionist information from.
This book has a clear anti-science message. For example, Louis Pasteur, famed for his careful experiments, is wrongly painted as a manipulative bumbler. Again, without footnotes, it's hard to see how Collins and Pinch came to this conclusion, which contradicts almost every other biography of Pasteur.
The book claims to be an examination of science, but the seven subjects this book examines are hardly representative. It's as if you found seven dishonest sports figures, and then used them to prove that every sports figure is dishonest.
Creationists love this book for it's anti-science viewpoint, perhaps because the methods are the same: slant your story to fit with your pre-conceived opinion; when evidence exists to the contrary, simply say the data is wrong, or the system is biased.
The back cover says it all; the authors believe scientists are not competent, but the evidence is so thin that one believes the incompetence lies elsewhere.
