Author:Dr. Simon Singh,Professor Edzard Ernst
Welcome to the world of alternative medicine.
Prince Charles is a staunch defender and millions of people swear by it; most UK doctors consider it to be little more than superstition and a waste of money. But how do youknow which treatments really heal and which are potentially harmful?
Now at last you can find out, thanks to the formidable partnership of Professor Edzard Ernst and Simon Singh. Edzard Ernst is the world's first professor of complementary medicine, based at Exeter University, where he has spent over a decade analysing meticulously the evidence for and against alternative therapies.He is supported in his findings by Simon Singh, the well-known and highly respected science writer of several international bestsellers.
Together they have written the definitive book on the subject. It is honest, impartial but hard-hitting, and provides a thorough examination and judgement of more than thirty of the most popular treatments, such as acupuncture, homeopathy, aromatherapy, reflexology, chiropractic and herbal medicine.In Trick or Treatment? the ultimate verdict on alternative medicine is delivered for the first time with clarity, scientific rigour and absolute authority.
Fearless, intelligent and remorselessly rational
—— The Sunday TimesThe authors' combined strengths shine through. The examination of the evidence is comprehensive [and] forensic...
—— NatureA definitive - if controversial - guide to what works, and what doesn't. It makes indispensable, if sometimes alarming, reading
—— Daily Mail[A] loving tribute to that once-in-a-lifetime dog
—— Library JournalOne of the best popular science books I have ever read
—— GuardianWonderful stuff, the most thoughtful pop science book of the last few years ... erudite, elegant and thoughtfully constructed
—— Sunday TimesI read it in an evening, with a sense of increasing excitement, and then vertigo, and finally a sort of stunned awe
—— Evening StandardFor many years, I've secretly longed for someone to take me by the hand and walk me through time and space - someone who would marvel with me at every strange thing we encountered, and pepper his scientific discourse with lines of poetry. Thank goodness Christopher Potter has come along at last
—— Dava SobelA marvelously capacious book that will attract serious readers everywhere
—— BooklistAny reader who has avoided science for fear of being overwhelmed will find a friendly guide in Potter ... This clear and smoothly written look at the mind-boggling history of everything is both informative and provocative
—— Publishers WeeklyThis Portable History of the Universe is awe-inspiring in its reach. It ranges easily over millions of miles and takes in billions of centuries at a stroke, yet at the same time it's somehow intimate and conversational in its manner. The engaging medium is the message, perhaps: to contemplate the universe, suggests Potter, is "to find ourselves at two poles at the same time: we are uniquely special and we are insignificant". Playing both poles against the middle with extraordinary aplomb, his book opens up to us the vastness of the cosmos
—— ScotsmanLess folksy and biographical than Bill Bryson, less zany than a Bluffer's Guide. But many a bang for your buck, washed down with quotations from the greats ... Potter has an engaging style
—— Daily MailWith marvellous clarity, compassion, erudition, humour and open-mindedness, Potter blasts us through the vast vacuum of space
—— Daily TelegraphBrimming with excitement . . . This is a rewarding tale of courage, determination, and the possibilities of science.
—— The StarDawkins emerges like a prize-fighter, knocking out of the ring all objections
—— NatureMost importantly his writing radiates an intense sense of fascination. He is a great explainer, taking complex biological processes and making them accessible
—— IndependentIf you want to understand evolution, I doubt there are many better at explaining it to laymen than Dawkins... A writer who is red in tooth and pen, his opponents don't stand a chance
—— Scottish Sunday HeraldAn accessible, colourful and beautifully detailed look at many scientific wonders - whether it's the great variety of dogs or the sex life of orchids - and a great primer for those coming fresh to the subject
—— Irish TimesRichard Dawkin's new book... gives the fact-rejecters their just deserts
—— Daily TelegraphThe book is full of evidence, some familiar and some new. Its case is presented in a manner succinct, clear and sometimes vivid
—— Daily TelegraphNo other book currently available approaches Dawkin's comprehensive yet accessible treatment of the extraordinarily diverse and massive body of data that drives ineluctably to the same conclusion
—— National Center for Science EducationThe Greatest Show on Earth is a lucid, thorough and often exciting survey of evolution and takes in rats' teeth, dogs, bacteria, the so-called missing link, crustaceans, giraffe anatomy, hummingbirds, chimpanzees, enzymes - you name it. It is informed in nearly every paragraph by Mr. Dawkins's irrepressible enthusiasm
—— Sarah Lyall , New York TimesThe Greatest Show on Earth... is essential reading. I would currently rate it... as the best overall book on the evidence for Evolution
—— Marc E. Miquel , SCOPEThis is a magnificent book of wonderstanding: Richard Dawkins combines an artist's wonder at the virtuosity of nature with a scientist's understanding of how it comes to be
—— Matt Ridley, author of "Nature via Nurture"