Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All

By Rose Shapiro

Alternative medicine is an increasingly mainstream industry with a predicted worth of five trillion dollars by the year 2050. Its treatments range from reputable methods like homeopathy and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0099522861
• ISBN13: 9780099522867
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Vintage UK
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Four stars only for the effort & writing style

After reading this, I can agree and disagree with this author, plus question whether they were paid by "big-pharma" to write it. I agree with the author that the new-agey stuff like ear candling (and omg, essential oils... ugh) are all just people trying to get your money. I also firmly believe we never really said goodbye to those traveling wagons where they sold amazing elixirs that promised to cure everything from obesity to the wart n your hand with just a teaspoon every morning. We are seeing that with CBD oil (no it doesn't cure everything, seriously!) However, the author's stance is fully on one side. There are medicines we use today that are synthetic copies of medicines derived from nature, and we still use many naturally derived chemicals. These things are harvested, processed, and added to pill forms or liquid forms. Only 100 years ago, the town midwife used to do this, on a smaller scale - so why is this quackery? Aspirin came from birch bark teas, morphine and other opiates still come from poppies, and St. John's Wort is the natural (and sometimes dangerous) inspiration for a synthetic antidepressant. It IS well written and an easy read. Just keep in mind as you read that this appears to be a biased view in one direction and is not a scientific study.

Suckers-the whole truth about alternative medicine

Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine Suckers is an excellent book that critically reviews the many problems with all forms of alternative medicine. Any person using or considering the use of any form of alternative medicine (CAM,integrative, complementary, etc.)should read this well researched book. It covers a broad range of ineffective practices, nicely exposing the weaknesses of those practices, many of which could be dangerous and contribute to the delay of the application of an appropriate therapy. Unlike other excellent books exposing the problems of alternative medicines (SNAKE OIL SCIENCE, TRICK OR TREATMENT)this book covers the increasing use of alternative medicine practices in infants and children, practices which I believe should be considered malpractice or even criminal. I am not aware of any alternative medicine practice that could be justified for infants or children. Carl Bartecchi, M.D.

Great Read, Well Researched

This is a great book. Lot's of historical background to explain how some of the wackier alternative medicines originated (homeopathy, chiropractic, TCM, etc.) and some good explanations as to why they are still around. While there is some "preaching to the choir" to be had in this one, the historical context is more than worth the effort.

Absolutely brilliant and revealing book

Suckers is an easy read and very well researched. I must admit that I rarely read "popular science" books, since I find them brushing over details and ultimately getting facts wrong. This book however, has the facts and backgrounds of a whole host of "alternative" "treatments" down to a T, teaches you how to recognise a quack by the language they use and will ultimately save you money, because you will not fall for their promises. I finished the book on Monday and have already recommended it to two colleagues. Did you know that "Traditional Chinese Medicine" is barely over 50 years old? Did you know the origins of chiropractise and osteopathy? This book is an essential read for the parent who constantly needs to defend their decision not to use a naturopath and for the health professional who has preserved their ethics and is not offering unproven treatments to satisfy the modern trend for supposedly ancient healing methods.