Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial
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Product Description
Daily Mail, April 8, 2008
"a definitive - if controversial - guide to what works, and what doesn't. It makes indispensable, if sometimes alarming, reading"
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Sunday Times, April 20th 2008
Fearless, intelligent and remorselessly rational.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Essential read but Kindle edition is lazily adapted (5 stars for content; 1 star for Kindle edition quality)
31 May 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
This should be essential reading alongside Ben Goldacre's Bad Science. Both books serve a vitally important role. Where Goldacre's book is a little more chatty, it's author being the 'David Brent' of the popular science writers world (I'm cool, you'd love to have a drink with me, and yeah, I can drink loads, while leading two double-blind trials, writing newspaper columns, participating in amateur dramatics (yes, really!) and being the funniest guy you've ever met... I'm cool, I swear, particularly if it impresses the kids and ...), Ernst and Singh's book is a little more sober, the authors being less desperate to impress. The books compliment each other well. If you come away, as some readers have, unconvinced,claiming the authors to be part of some conspiracy, or accusing them of blind prejudice against CAM then you have simply failed to understand the basic points they're making, and those points are not difficult to understand. This book and Goldacre's explain with admirable clarity the placebo effect and the way a double blind trial works and why they're important. Not difficult notions to understand in any case, but, just in case, here they are explained clearly, so all can grasp them. All treatments should undergo rigorous testing, much of the stuff on your health food shops' shelves hasn't, and when it has it has been shown (with very very few exceptions)to have all the healing qualities of a sugar pill, which in the case of homeopathy isn't surprising since that's what they generally are.
Now, to the KINDLE edition. 1 month into my Kindle ownership and I'm now getting pretty irritated by the shoddy quality of many of the Kindle editions. This one leaves block quotes (long quotes that are set out separate from the text in the print edition) in the same font, without quotation marks and with the same paragraph indentation as the main text; so often you find yourself half way through a quotation before realising that you are reading a quotation, and then you have to workout where it ends and the main text recommences. In addition, some special symbols just come out peculiar, as do some of the lists. Is it too difficult to make the Kindle editions the same quality as the print editions? This should not even be a question. This is really poor and shows disrespect for those who have bought Kindles. C'mon Amazon!
Now, to the KINDLE edition. 1 month into my Kindle ownership and I'm now getting pretty irritated by the shoddy quality of many of the Kindle editions. This one leaves block quotes (long quotes that are set out separate from the text in the print edition) in the same font, without quotation marks and with the same paragraph indentation as the main text; so often you find yourself half way through a quotation before realising that you are reading a quotation, and then you have to workout where it ends and the main text recommences. In addition, some special symbols just come out peculiar, as do some of the lists. Is it too difficult to make the Kindle editions the same quality as the print editions? This should not even be a question. This is really poor and shows disrespect for those who have bought Kindles. C'mon Amazon!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
This excellent book explains the background and the historical developments behind most alternative therapies. The authors explain the science of reliable research methodology and apply this to the alternative therapies to assess their efficacy. This book is written in a language that is easy to understand even for non-scientist and it is a very informative and reliable. and a good read!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a good response to Rainbow Diet which is a book of confusing messages about the treatment of cancer. Ernst , a trained Medical Doctor, is concerned that Homeopathy,and some Alternative Medical Treatments which have no measurable curative powers beyond the Placebo Effect, are being given precedence over conventional Medicine by some people.
However the attack on Chiropracters, who do do some good for back pain, particularly,
I believe to be misdirected
However the attack on Chiropracters, who do do some good for back pain, particularly,
I believe to be misdirected
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A very good review of the eveidence let down by the Kindle version
This is a really good review of the evidence for alternative medicine. I thought it dealt with the evidence very fairly and wasn't biased which is a refreshing change. Read more
Published 1 month ago by @uptocloudbase
promoting his own cause?
Whilst this book gives a nice history of some aspects of medicine, it is generally a book promoting pharmaceutical drugs. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sheila
A badly researched book
I must point out some inaccuracies in the book.
On page 326 the authors talk about shiatsu, and they don't seem to know what they are talking about. Read more
On page 326 the authors talk about shiatsu, and they don't seem to know what they are talking about. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Shiatsushi
Easy to read.
Its an easy to read book, even to a non native speaker as myself.
Although I'm not much of a book reader ( I read about a book a year) it took me only 3 nights to get through... Read more
Although I'm not much of a book reader ( I read about a book a year) it took me only 3 nights to get through... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Michael Cherry
Biased to the core these two charlatans
Ernst and his accomplice in truth twisting, Singh, have severe ulterior motives in writing this book, in allegedly doing the dirty media work of the pharma drug companies, they... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Trevor Jago
Bringing reality to bear on complementary therapies
Most books dealing with complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) are uncritical: either uncritically accepting (the majority case) or uncritically knocking. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Guy Chapman
Medical (Allopathic) propaganda
Bog standard medical propaganda. The Allopathic/Pharma boys churn out this rubbish 24/7, as they know attack is the best form of defence. Read more
Published 15 months ago by whale.to
Trick or Treatment?
This book is excellent starting as it does by looking at the 'first clincial trial' for scurvy the 'first' evidence based medicine with blood letting and a range of excellent... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Barry
Readable and interesting, if unsurprising and a little lightweight
In "Trick or Treatment" Singh and Ernst summarise the cases for or against four of the more popular alternative health treatments, acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy and herbal... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Crookedmouth
Tricky Treatment But By Whom?
The art of medicine is to keep the patient entertained while nature takes its course. The authors attribute this saying to Voltaire although many believe it was popularised by the... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Neutral
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