Overview
""Christopher Wanjek uses a take-no-prisoners approach in debunkingthe outrageous nonsense being heaped on a gullible public in thename of science and medicine. Wanjek writes with clarity, humor,and humanity, and simultaneously informs and entertains."" -Dr. Michael Shermer, Publisher, Skeptic magazine; monthlycolumnist, Scientific American; author of Why People Believe WeirdThings Prehistoric humans believed cedar ashes and incantations could curea head injury. Ancient Egyptians believed the heart was the centerof thought, the liver produced blood, and the brain cooled thebody. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates was a big fan ofbloodletting. Today, we are still plagued by countless medicalmyths and misconceptions. Bad Medicine sets the record straight bydebunking widely held yet incorrect notions of how the body works,from cold cures to vaccination fears. Clear, accessible, and highly entertaining, Bad Medicine dispelssuch medical convictions as: * You only use 10% of your brain: CAT, PET, and MRI scans all provethat there are no inactive regions of the brain . . . not evenduring sleep. * Sitting too close to the TV causes nearsightedness: Your motherwas wrong. Most likely, an already nearsighted child sits close tosee better. * Eating junk food will make your face break out: Acne is caused bydead skin cells, hormones, and bacteria, not from a pizza witheverything on it. * If you don't dress warmly, you'll catch a cold: Cold viruses arethe true and only cause of colds. Protect yourself and the ones you love from bad medicine-the brainyou save may be your own.
Full Product Details
Author: Christopher Wanjek
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc
Imprint: John Wiley & Sons Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 15.50cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 23.00cm
Weight: 0.383kg
ISBN: 9780471434993
ISBN 10: 047143499
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 29 October 2002
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General/trade
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
...Bad Medicine is an enjoyable romp through a host of biomedical misconceptions... (New Scientist, 21 December 2002) ...Wanjek shoots and scores when he tackles the major myths of medicine... (Focus, February 2003)
For skeptics, always fans of science: The first two books in a series devoted to bad science, Bad Astronomy by Philip Plait and Bad Medicine (Wiley, $15.95) by Christopher Wanjek, may warm even a Scrooge's heart. In short chapters, Plait tackles misperceptions about why the moon looks larger on the horizon and why stars twinkle before moving on, dismantling conspiracy kooks who doubt the moon landing and offering a top 10 list of bad science moments in movie history. Wanjek, a science writer who has also written jokes for The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live, takes an edgy and funny tack in debunking myths such as humans using only 10% of their brains, the utility of anti-bacterial toys and the safety of natural herbal remedies, ones often loaded with powerful chemicals. (USA TODAY, December 3, 2002) ...Bad Medicine is an enjoyable romp through a host of biomedical misconceptions... (New Scientist, 21 December 2002) ...Wanjek shoots and scores when he tackles the major myths of medicine... (Focus, February 2003)
Author Information
CHRISTOPHER WANJEK is a frequent contributor to the Washington Post; he has also written for Smithsonian and Forbes, among other publications. He writes jokes for The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live. Wanjek is also a senior writer for NASA. He has previously worked as an in-house science writer at MIT and the NIH.
