SCAM by Edzard Ernst

SCAM by Edzard Ernst

So-called alternative medicine (SCAM) is popular and therefore important, no matter whether we love or loathe it. Consequently, an impressive number of books about SCAM are already available. Most of them, however, are woefully uncritical, overtly promotional and dangerously misleading.

Not so this one

This book was written by someone who received SCAM as a patient, practised SCAM as a doctor, and researched SCAM as a scientist. It provides an insider's perspective by covering aspects of SCAM which most other books avoid, and by questioning the many tacitly accepted assumptions and wild extrapolations that underpin SCAM. The text is factual, occasionally dosed with a touch of humour or satire. The aim is not only to inform but also to entertain.

It is written principally for members of the general public who have an interest in healthcare and are tired of the promotional counter-knowledge produced by SCAM enthusiasts. It is an exercise in critical thinking that might prevent you from wasting your money on (or endangering your health with) bogus treatments.

Edzard Ernst is an emeritus professor who has studied alternative medicine for the past 20 years. Ernst did extensive scientific investigations of alternative medicine with an emphasis on efficacy and safety as the world's first professor of complementary medicine (at the University of Exeter). He has over 1000 peer-reviewed articles to his credit, as well as multiple books, including the best-selling Trick or Treatment, co-authored with Simon Singh. The 2015 John Maddox Award for Speaking Up for Science was shared by Edzard Ernst.