According to infectious disease specialist Offit (Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure), half of Americans believe in the “magic” of alternative medicine, fueling a billion-a-year business that offers treatments that are at best placebos, and at worst deadly. He blasts untested, unregulated, overhyped remedies—like anti-autism creams and bogus cancer cures using “antineoplastons”—and dares to berate celebs like “America’s Doctor,” Mehmet Oz, who “believes that modern medicine isn’t to be trusted”; alternative treatment superstars Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra, proponents of the natural world and wisdom of the ancients; and former Three’s Company star Suzanne Somers, who crusades for unproven menopause treatments, including her daunting regimen of “bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.” “There’s a name for alternative medicines that work,” one McGill professor notes: “It’s called medicine.” Offit insists that “making decisions about our health is an awesome responsibility. If we’re going to do it, we need to take it seriously.” With a fascinating history of hucksters, and a critical chronology of how supplements escaped regulation, Offit cautions consumers not to “give alternative medicine a free pass because we’re fed up with conventional medicine.” His is a bravely unsentimental and dutifully researched guide for consumers to distinguish between quacks and a cure. Agent: Gail Ross, the Ross Yoon Agency. (June)
Important and timely . . . Offit writes in a lucid and flowing style, and grounds a wealth of information within forceful and vivid narratives. This makes his argument - that we should be guided by science - accessible to a wide audience.” — New Republic
“Lively. . . . Informative and well-written, the book deserves a wide audience among the general public, scientists, and health care professionals.” — Science
“Convincing.” — Forbes
“This excellent, easy-to-read look at the alternative-medicine industry is highly recommended.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“Do You Believe in Magic? is a briskly written, entertaining, and well-researched examination of those whom Offit considers ‘unclothed emperors’: purveyors of miracle cancer cures, fountains of youth, and the theory that vaccines cause autism.” — Boston Globe
“Over the last decade [Offit] has become a leading debunker of mass misconceptions surrounding infections and vaccines, and now he is taking on the entire field of alternative medicine, from acupuncture to vitamins.” — New York Times
“A fascinating history of hucksters, and a critical chronology of how supplements escaped regulation. . . . A bravely unsentimental and dutifully researched guide for consumers to distinguish between quacks and a cure.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A rousing good read, strong on human interest and filled with appalling and amazing data.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Do You Believe in Magic? is a briskly written, entertaining, and well-researched examination of those whom Offit considers ‘unclothed emperors’: purveyors of miracle cancer cures, fountains of youth, and the theory that vaccines cause autism.
Convincing.
Important and timely . . . Offit writes in a lucid and flowing style, and grounds a wealth of information within forceful and vivid narratives. This makes his argument - that we should be guided by science - accessible to a wide audience.
Over the last decade [Offit] has become a leading debunker of mass misconceptions surrounding infections and vaccines, and now he is taking on the entire field of alternative medicine, from acupuncture to vitamins.
Lively. . . . Informative and well-written, the book deserves a wide audience among the general public, scientists, and health care professionals.
Lively. . . . Informative and well-written, the book deserves a wide audience among the general public, scientists, and health care professionals.
Lively. . . . Informative and well-written, the book deserves a wide audience among the general public, scientists, and health care professionals.
Convincing.
Few scientists are willing to touch this third rail of science publicity; Offit grabs it with two hands.
on Autism's False Prophets Newsweek
Offit is a wonderful storyteller who makes his message come alive. Each chapter is a story that grabs the reader’s interest and holds it.
Offit is a rare combination of scientist, doctor, communicator and advocate. . . . What is needed is more people like [him] willing to engage the skeptics in a debate that just will not go away.
An invaluable chronicle that relates some of the many ways in which the vulnerabilities of anxious parents have been exploited.
Important and timely . . . Offit writes in a lucid and flowing style, and grounds a wealth of information within forceful and vivid narratives. This makes his argument - that we should be guided by science - accessible to a wide audience.
Do You Believe in Magic? is a briskly written, entertaining, and well-researched examination of those whom Offit considers ‘unclothed emperors’: purveyors of miracle cancer cures, fountains of youth, and the theory that vaccines cause autism.
Over the last decade [Offit] has become a leading debunker of mass misconceptions surrounding infections and vaccines, and now he is taking on the entire field of alternative medicine, from acupuncture to vitamins.
Few scientists are willing to touch this third rail of science publicity; Offit grabs it with two hands.
on Autism's False Prophets Newsweek
An invaluable chronicle that relates some of the many ways in which the vulnerabilities of anxious parents have been exploited.
Offit is a wonderful storyteller who makes his message come alive. Each chapter is a story that grabs the reader’s interest and holds it.
Offit is a rare combination of scientist, doctor, communicator and advocate. . . . What is needed is more people like [him] willing to engage the skeptics in a debate that just will not go away.
Offit is a rare combination of scientist, doctor, communicator and advocate. . . . What is needed is more people like [him] willing to engage the skeptics in a debate that just will not go away.
An invaluable chronicle that relates some of the many ways in which the vulnerabilities of anxious parents have been exploited.
Offit (chief, infectious diseases, Children's Hosp. of Philadelphia; Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All) examines alternative medical therapies that are popular today: acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic, herbs and supplements, and cancer cures. He discusses the history of these treatments and states that there is no evidence for their effectiveness. He also looks at celebrities such as Dr. Oz, Andrew Weil, Oprah Winfrey, Suzanne Somers, and Jenny McCarthy who endorse and sell alternative treatments. Using case histories to show the sometimes tragic outcomes of abandoning modern medicine, the author separates the therapies that work from those that are useless. Some alternative therapies do work in select cases, although the placebo effect may be involved. Offit notes that the placebo effect is a valid one, saying, "There's no such thing as alternative medicine. There's only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't." VERDICT This excellent, easy-to-read look at the alternative-medicine industry is highly recommended.—Barbara Bibel, Oakland P.L.
A pull-no-punches attack on the hucksterism of alternative medicine and an exposé of the federal government's failure to regulate the vitamin and supplement industry. Offit (Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Vaccinology and Pediatrics/Univ. of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All , 2011; etc.) relates shocking stories of the harm done to people by promoters of false claims, and he doesn't hesitate to name names. His brief account of the lobbying and politics behind the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, called by the New York Times "The Snake Oil Protection Act," is particularly eye-opening. Offit casts an especially critical eye on celebrity promoters of alternative therapies. Among those who come under his scrutiny are former actress Suzanne Somers with her so-called anti-aging product line; TV's charismatic Dr. Mehmet Oz and his "Superstars of Alternative Medicine": Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra; and osteopath Rashid Buttar, a prolific author and promoter of an unlicensed anti-autism cream. Offit also gives his take on various common products that practitioners of alternative medicine claim have therapeutic value--e.g., garlic, ginkgo biloba, saw palmetto, St. John's wort and milk thistle. Of special interest is his chapter on what has been learned about the value of the placebo response and how it explains the positive effects of some alternative therapies. The harm, he writes, comes when their promoters recommend against helpful conventional therapies, when they promote potentially dangerous therapies without warning, when they give patients false hopes and then drain their bank accounts, and, finally, when they promote magical thinking or scientific illiteracy. A rousing good read, strong on human interest and filled with appalling and amazing data.
