Category Archives: Book Reviews

Massimo Pigliucci is an evolutionary biologist, philosopher, professor, and noted skeptic and author. He is also almost the same age as I am, but I’m trying not to let that ruin my day. His most recent book is Nonsense on … Continue reading →

The first step in accepting the need for skepticism and a systematic, scientific approach to evaluating medical therapies is understanding the limitations of our perceptions and judgments. Human beings all share innate and inescapable blind spots, both sensory and cognitive, … Continue reading →

Dr. Harriet Hall at Science-Based Medicine recently reviewed the book Over-diagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health by Dr. Gilbert Welch. I was immediately interested enough to buy the book and read it, largely because it promised to … Continue reading →

For my infrequent book reviews I have tried to focus on books that are explicitly relevant to the issues and themes of this blog. However, I wanted to call attention to a very enjoyable book that, honestly, is only marginally … Continue reading →

There are many excellent books out there on skepticism generally, on the specific mistakes we tend to make in our judgments that lead us to believe what isn’t true, and on the more specific questions of CAM and evidence-based health … Continue reading →

The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn’t-and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger by Daniel Gardner does an outstanding job of explaining and supporting the argument that our ability to assess risks is fundamentally flawed. The basic … Continue reading →

Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts About Alternative Medicine is one of the best-written and most accessible books on the topic available. It is written by Edzard Ernst and Simon Singh. Ernst is a medical doctor and homeopath with extensive … Continue reading →