Bad Medicine by Christopher Wanjek, Wiley, $15.95, ISBN 047143499X Reviewed by Clare Wilson
MOST of us use only 10 per cent of our brains, or so it is claimed. So why do we never hear a doctor say: “Fortunately, the bullet destroyed the 90 per cent of the brain he doesn’t use. He’s good to go – call me in the morning.”?
Because it’s nonsense, of course – despite being frequently cited by faith healers and others to explain their “superpowers”. Christopher Wanjek gives a sound evolutionary explanation of this claim’s improbability.
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This book will appeal to anyone who gets wound up by medical myths, old or New Age. Bad Medicine is an enjoyable romp through a host of biomedical misconceptions, debunking certain alternative therapies along the way.
Wanjek is uncompromising and to the point, taking only a few pages to dispatch each victim. This allows him to cover a vast range, from shark cartilage “cancer cures” to “detoxing”. This makes the book great for dipping into. He mixes research evidence with common sense, leaving readers well armed for debates with fans of homeopathy or devotees of bottled water.
He appears to assume that all his readers are American, which may prove irksome to those who aren’t, but the book would still make a great gift for sceptics or the open-minded. Offer it to believers only if you are feeling particularly sadistic.