Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine

New
Illustrated
2009
$22.47

Hailed in the New York Times as entertaining and immensely educational, Snake Oil Science is not only a brilliant critique of alternative medicine, but also a first-rate introduction to interpreting scientific research of any sort. The book's ultimate goal is to illustrate how the placebo effect conspires to make medical therapies appear to be effective-not just to consumers, but to therapists and poorly trained scientists as well. Bausell explores this remarkable phenomenon and explains why research on any therapy that does not factor in the placebo effect (and other placebo-like effects) will inevitably produce false results. Moreover, as the author shows in an impressive survey of research from high-quality scientific journals, studies employing credible placebo controls do not indicate positive effects for alternative therapies beyond those attributable to random chance. Readers will come away from this book with a healthy skepticism of claims about the latest miracle cure, be it St. John's Wort for depression or acupuncture for chronic pain.

Synopsis

Hailed in the New York Times as entertaining and immensely educational, Snake Oil Science is not only a brilliant critique of alternative medicine, but also a first-rate introduction to interpreting scientific research of any sort. The book's ultimate goal is to illustrate how the placebo effect conspires to make medical therapies appear to be effective-not just to consumers, but to therapists and poorly trained scientists as well. Bausell explores this remarkable phenomenon and explains why research on any therapy that does not factor in the placebo effect (and other placebo-like effects) will inevitably produce false results. Moreover, as the author shows in an impressive survey of research from high-quality scientific journals, studies employing credible placebo controls do not indicate positive effects for alternative therapies beyond those attributable to random chance. Readers will come away from this book with a healthy skepticism of claims about the latest miracle cure, be it St. John's Wort for depression or acupuncture for chronic pain.

$22.47

Quantity

10 in stock

More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 348
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Oxford University Press, U.S.A.
Published: 31 Jul 2009
ISBN 10: 0195383427
ISBN 13: 9780195383423

Media Reviews

Mr. Bausell has emerged with a book about his true intellectual passion-- how we teach, how kids learn, and what would give us better results... His vision of the learning lab -- with students touching computer screens as they follow computerized lessons, each of them learning at his or her own pace, and with tutors providing individualized instruction as necessary-- suggests a more efficient model for learning, particularly for children already behind the curve, and real urgency about the future. --Dan Rodricks, The Baltimore Sun

Author Bio

R. Barker Bausell, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore, was Research Director of a National Institutes of Health-funded Complementary and Alternative Medicine Specialized Research Center.