Whole Story
Alternative Medicine On Trial?
by Toby Murcott
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Short-listed for the Medical Journalists Association Open Book Award
Reviews
“Brilliantly researched and bravely written.” Science and Public Affairs
'A bird's eye view of both the orthodox and complementary medicine worlds. Excellent and thought-provoking' Institute for Complementary Medicine Journal
'Murcott reveals how much of what we take as scientific fact is imbued with subjectivity, bias, misinterpretation or simply asking the wrong questions.' The Lancet
"A fine new science and health title" Midwest Book Review
'It is probably unwise to label any book as required reading. Nevertheless the temptation to do so with The Whole Story is
strong.' Guardian (Saturday Review)
'Essential reading. A balanced, sympathetic and long overdue look at the relationship between science and complementary
medicine' Focus Magazine
'This book should be prescribed for bigots on both sides, to be taken thoughtfully, all the way to the last
page.' Guardian (Thursday Science Supplement)
'a book you ought to read.' www.popularscience.co.uk
'A fun little book about complementary and alternative therapies'
Bandolier, the journal of evidence-based health care
'Complementary
and alternative medicine is more popular than ever before, and there
is no shortage of publications on the subject. This book clearly
stands out from the rest. It is a well-researched attempt at cutting
through the thick layers of make-believe and revealing the truth.
Like no other lay book, it promotes analytical thinking, a commodity
rarer than gold dust in this area.' - Edzard Ernst, Professor of
Complementary Medicine, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth
'Calling on doctors, patients, therapists and researchers as
witnesses, Dr Murcott puts complementary medicine on trial. By
examining the evidence at hand he highlights the complexities in
making healthcare decisions and draws conclusions that have
important implications for all forms of medicine.' - Professor Marc
Cohen, President of the Australasian Integrative Medicine
Association
'The Whole Story elegantly presents the challenges of
testing therapies from acupuncture to reflexology and in so doing
makes an original, thought-provoking and worthwhile contribution to
the debate on complementary medicine.' - Dr Susan Aldridge, author
of The Thread of Life and Seeing Red & Feeling Blue
Description
Alternative medicine is a fifty billion dollar per year industry. But is it all nonsense? The Whole Story rounds up the latest evidence on the placebo effect, the randomized control trial, personalized genetic medicine, acupuncture, homeopathy, osteopathy and more. It reaches a provocative conclusion: alternative therapies' whole-body approach might be just what medicine really needs right now to help crack the tough, chronic conditions seemingly untouched by the revolutions of surgery, antiseptics, antibiotics, vaccines and molecular biology.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Medicine's Conundrum
The Advocates
The Critics
The Gold Standard Tarnished
Measuring the Unmeasurable
Hints of Understanding
A New Model
The Evidence Leads
Conclusion
Author Biographies
TOBY MURCOTT is a leading science writer, journalist and broadcaster. He was for many years the science editor of BBC World Service Radio before becoming the director of Einstein TV, a digital science channel.
He currently writes a column in The
Times newspaper. Toby did his PhD and postdoctoral research in
biochemistry at Bristol University, UK.