Bad Medicine

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.

• Acknowledgments. Introduction: The Roots of Bad Medicine. PART I: I SING THE BODY ECLECTIC. 10 Percent Misconception, 90 Percent Misdirection: The Brain atWork. Big Brain, Little Smarts: Brain Size and Intelligence. Blinded by Lies: The Eyes Have It. All in Good Taste: How the Tongue Works. Scrubbing Your Liver: The Demystification of Detoxification. Refer to the Appendix: Useless Organ or Helpful Player? Going Gray? Not Today: White Hair and Its Causes. Samson's Delight: Baldness Cures. The Race Is Off: Race Defined. PART II: GROWING OLD. Losing One's Mind: Memory Loss and Aging. Getting Stiffed: Vitality and Aging. Illness Gets Old: Aging and Disease. See You in 2150: The Long and Short of Life Span. On and On: Longevity and Genetics. PART III: ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU SICK. The Plague Lives! The Black Plague in the Modern Age. Cold Comfort: How to Catch a Cold. The Ill-Advised War on Bacteria: Are All Bacteria Bad? Radiating Misperception: Radiation, Pro and Con. Swimming with Sharks: Sharks and Cancer. Mutating Misconceptions: What Your Genes Say about Your FutureHealth. PART IV: EATING IT UP. Learning Your Alpha-Beta-Carotenes: Antioxidants, Pro andCon. The Unbearable Heaviness of Being: Fat People and Food. Not Milk? Milk and Your Health. Organic Reasoning: The Benefits of Organic Food. Water, Water Everywhere: Bottled Water vs. Tap Water. The Whole Grain Truth: Are Whole Grains Healthier? PART V: THE RETURN OF THE WITCH DOCTOR. The Delusion of Dilution: Homeopathy X 50. Magnetic Charm: Magnets and Your Health. Reversal of Fortune: The Viability of Ayurveda. Something Smells Funny: Aromatherapy As a Cure. Suffocating Trends: Oxygen--How Much Is Too Much? The Ultimate Hands-Off Approach: Touch Therapy, Qigong, and FalunGong. Getting to the Root of the Problem: Herbs As AlternativeMedicine. A Shot in the Arm: The True Dangers of Vaccines. PART VI: RISKING IT ALL. Toxic Avenger: The Science of Toxicity. Peer-Reviewed for Your Pleasure: How Health Studies Work. Candy Adds Years to Your Life: And Other Important Health StudyFindings. We're #1: Rating America's Health. PART VII: JUST LIKE IN THE MOVIES. I'm Not a Reporter, but I Play One on TV: The Accuracy ofTelevision Medical News. Rambo VI: The Quest for Hearing: Guns and Their Aftereffects. Knocked Out, Loaded: Imagined Violence and Real Problems. Heartbreaker: Hollywood Style. Epilogue: Tomorrow's Promise: Bad Medicine on the Horizon. Appendix: More Bad Medicine. Recommended Reading. Bibliography. Index.

For skeptics, always fans of science: The first two books in aseries devoted to "bad science," Bad Astronomy by PhilipPlait and Bad Medicine (Wiley, $15.95) by ChristopherWanjek, may warm even a Scrooge's heart. In short chapters, Plaittackles misperceptions about why the moon looks larger on thehorizon and why stars twinkle before moving on, dismantlingconspiracy kooks who doubt the moon landing and offering a top 10list of bad science moments in movie history. Wanjek, a sciencewriter who has also written jokes for The Tonight Show andSaturday Night Live, takes an edgy and funny tack indebunking myths such as humans using only 10% of their brains, theutility of "anti-bacterial" toys and the safety of "natural" herbalremedies, ones often loaded with powerful chemicals. (USATODAY, December 3, 2002) "...Bad Medicine is an enjoyable romp through a host ofbiomedical misconceptions..." (New Scientist, 21 December 2002) "...Wanjek shoots and scores when he tackles the major myths ofmedicine..." (Focus, February 2003)