eShop USA > Books > Snake Oil Science: The Truth about Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Snake Oil Science: The Truth about Complementary and Alternative Medicine
List Price: $24.95Our Price: $16.47 You Save: $8.48 (34%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 615.5
EAN: 9780195313680
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0195313682
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: October 31, 2007
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
Related Items: Featured Listmania!
Editorial Review:
Millions of people worldwide swear by such therapies as acupuncture, herbal cures, and homeopathic remedies. Indeed, complementary and alternative medicine is embraced by a broad spectrum of society, from ordinary people, to scientists and physicians, to celebrities such as Prince Charles and Oprah Winfrey.
In the tradition of Michael Shermers Why People Believe Weird Things and Robert Parks's Voodoo Science, Barker Bausell provides an engaging look at the scientific evidence for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and at the logical, psychological, and physiological pitfalls that lead otherwise intelligent people--including researchers, physicians, and therapists--to endorse these cures. The books ultimate goal is to reveal not whether these therapies work--as Bausell explains, most do work, although weakly and temporarily--but whether they work for the reasons their proponents believe. Indeed, as Bausell reveals, it is the placebo effect that accounts for most of the positive results. He explores this remarkable phenomenon--the biological and chemical evidence for the placebo effect, how it works in the body, and why research on any therapy that does not factor in the placebo effect will inevitably produce false results. By contrast, as Bausell shows in an impressive survey of research from high-quality scientific journals and systematic reviews, studies employing credible placebo controls do not indicate positive effects for CAM therapies over and above those attributable to random chance.
Here is not only an entertaining critique of the strangely zealous world of CAM belief and practice, but it also a first-rate introduction to how to correctly interpret scientific research of any sort. Readers will come away with a solid understanding of good vs. bad research practice and a healthy skepticism of claims about the latest miracle cure, be it St. John's Wort for depression or acupuncture for chronic pain.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - An excellent treatise on the science of clinical trials
I am a practicing physician in Singapore and at one time, on staff teaching hematology in University College Hospital Medical School, London University and then Hong Kong University. Many years ago, while sitting on the Singapore National Medical Research Council, there was one grant applicatioin that asked for money to do a piece of research on "Acupuncture for the relief of osteoarthritic knee pain." There was no sham acupuncture control group mentioned. When I said in order to make the trial valid, ... Read More
Rating: - Outstanding book that should be widely read, but won't be
Why?
Because Bausell's position on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is simply this: it's no more effective than a placebo. This is not something that millions of people want to hear. Regardless, he puts together a compelling case to support this contention. In fact I would call his conclusion inescapable.
R. Barker Bausell is a research methodologist or biostatistician, a professor at the University of Maryland, and has had many years experience in evaluating research ... Read More
Rating: - THE TRUTH!
CAM includes such things as Reiki, which is involves a Reiki practitioner using their hands to manipulate the patient's Ki, which is their "universal life energy," in order to provide "healing."
Google your local hospital and Reiki. Chances are fairly good that Reiki is provided there. If you want an example of a hospital where Reiki is provided, try Googling Mount Ascutney Hospital in Windsor VT.
Also, the New Hampshire Board of Nursing explicitly allows nurses to provide Reiki as ... Read More
Rating:  - placebo effect over-rated
The proof is in the pudding, Europe is way ahead of the US in alternative medicine and the results are there for all to see, the US is falling farther and farther behind.
I suffered from severe GERD so bad that I would spray my bedroom walls with gastric fluid while fighting for air. My psoriatic arthritis was so bad I had a very difficult time with mobility, even touching my toes was painful. I was scheduled for Aortic arch replacement surgery since my aorta had grown to over 5cm, according to tests ... Read More
Rating: - Not a Placebo
This book is not a placebo, but the real thing. The author spells out his argument, his data, and his analyses in a very convincing way and has resolved in my mind many of the questions I've had about the placebo effect. His credentials as a biostatistician are evident in the thoughtful way he developed the subject, and leave no room for doubt that his is thorough and as unbiased as a human can be. It's definitely a book that everyone could benefit from reading, one that gives great insight into the vast array ... Read More
Related Categories:
| |
 |
