Category: Book & movie reviews
Alternative Medicine: Placebos for Pets
A skeptical veterinarian reviews the evidence for alternative medicine for pets, and concludes it's mostly placebos.
Aging: Is It a Preventable Disease?
David Sinclair says aging is a disease that can be prevented and treated, and there is no reason life must end. The evidence he presents from scientific studies is intriguing, but far from definitive.
Professor Gives Grades to Alternative Medicine
Edzard Ernst assigns a grade to 150 alternative medicine modalities, evaluating plausibility, efficacy, safety, cost, and risk/benefit balance. A very useful reference.
Chris Beat Cancer: A Comprehensive Guide to Making a Killing
Chris Wark has a new book out, with the unsurprising title of Chris Beat Cancer. It purports to be a guide to beating cancer. It's not.
Generic Drugs and Global Deception
Generic drugs are supposed to be equivalent to brand-name drugs, but all too often they are defective. Katherine Eban's book shows that corrupt overseas manufacturers have committed intentional global fraud. The system is broken and the FDA lacks the power to correct abuses.
What Does It Feel Like to Die?
We're all going to die; we wonder what it will feel like. This book describes what typically happens during the period between diagnosis of a fatal illness and death.
Bad Documentary Review: Family Shots
Amazon removed a number of anti-vax documentaries in March but a few still remain unfortunately. Family Shots is a anti-vax propaganda film pretending to be a documentary about a father trying to find out if vaccines are safe. It also got government funding to be made. Yeah...
Can A One-Minute Cure Really Heal Virtually All Diseases?
The author of this book claims to have found a one-minute cure that will heal virtually all diseases. The claim is ludicrous, and is not supported by any evidence.
The Scientific Attitude, Not the Scientific Method, Is the Key
A philosopher of science argues that science is not characterized by a specific scientific method but by the scientific attitude. Scientists value empirical evidence and follow the evidence wherever it leads. They are open to changing their mind rather than stubbornly clinging to an ideological belief system.
Pseudoscience in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
This new book addresses the neglected field of research on child and adolescent psychotherapy and does an excellent job of distinguishing treatments that have been proven to work from treatments that are based on pseudoscience.