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July 16
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GibsonGirl
marked as to-read:
Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America (Paperback)
by Laura Shapiro
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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June 11
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GibsonGirl
read and liked
Trevor's
review of Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All:
"Hegel says somewhere – yes, I’ve looked and no, I can’t find it – that the problem with being a philosopher is that it is the only occupation where you can study for years and years and people who haven’t thought twice in the last decade ca...more
Hegel says somewhere – yes, I’ve looked and no, I can’t find it – that the problem with being a philosopher is that it is the only occupation where you can study for years and years and people who haven’t thought twice in the last decade can come along and think they are equally qualified as you to make ‘philosophical statements’, and all because they have the ‘necessary equipment’ to do philosophy in that they have a brain. He says something like, “as if they didn’t have the necessary equipment to be a cobbler by the fact they have a foot”.
I’ve always liked that quote, but this isn’t just a problem for philosophy, as Suckers proves it is at least as true for the medical profession and its opposite, the Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) industry. I’d never really thought much about CAM, well, other than with derision, but I wouldn’t think about it, would I? I mean, the whole industry is set up to appeal to middle-aged, middle-class women. A point that is repeatedly made in this book. And I don’t fit the demographic.
A year ago I watched a Dawkins documentary called The Enemies of Reason which I didn’t particularly like. Now, the reason why I didn’t particularly like it was because it was having a go at CAM and it all seemed far too easy. What I assumed he had done was find some nutters at the extreme end of CAM, the sorts of people who talk about crystals and yoga postures for channelling energy and who have machines to measure your aura that have variously coloured flashing lights – you know the sort of thing – and then to laugh at them derisively and, well, that was about it. Like fishing in a bucket, it all seemed a bit easy. I was left thinking I don’t know very much about CAM, but surely these people are the fringe dwellers and Dawkins is just having a cheap shot.
HOW WRONG COULD I BE? Shapiro’s book would have still made a much better documentary, but the people Dawkins was talking to were anything but fringe dwellers.
Look, I really love middle aged women, I think women are at their sexiest when in middle age, they are clever and funny and (if they haven’t spent the last couple of decades ingesting too much lipstick) the nicest possible people to be around. But, they do tend to believe some incredible crap. Fortunately, this book is the perfect curative. I recommend reading a chapter at night followed by a good lie down and a nice cup of tea (strictly non-herbal).
For instance, I would never have guessed that Traditional Chinese Medicine was invented by the Chinese Communist Party as a way of showing they were making their five year plan targets in supplying doctors to the local population. That this is a ‘tradition’ that goes all the way back to 1949, that acupuncture is not only rubbish because there is no such thing as Qi, but sticking pins in people was invented post 1949 and has been decreasing in popularity in China ever since. That is, ever since they have had access to real medicine – you know, Western medicine, the stuff that works, the medicine that has increased life expectancy from 40 to 80 in about a century. If you want to talk about magic then Western medicine is it.
This book is a must read. You will learn that Chiropractic is the major cause of stroke in people aged under 45. This should be a national scandal and these people should be gaoled and outlawed – but rather they even get money from our national health services. Yet another example of some fraudster coming up with a ‘plausible’ idea (that illness is somehow related to bones pressing on nerves and impeding the flow of life force – okay, perhaps calling it ‘plausible’ is going too far) and then making millions out of damaging people, sometimes damaging them all the way to the grave.
Some of the ‘treatments’ detailed in this book are frightening. Not just those at the nutty end of the spectrum, but old standards like homeopathy, Bach Flower Treatments, Ayurveda and Deepak Chopra and his quantum healing – god save us. That this nonsense can be allowed to be foisted on an unsuspecting and poorly informed public is a complete disgrace. These people are dangerous. Not so much when there is nothing wrong from you and they are only removing excess money from your wallet – but some of them actually believe their own lies. The cases described in the chapter on cancer would make anyone weep – these poor, frightened people are encouraged to forego efficacious treatments so they can spray rose water over themselves, or some such foolishness, and then get to die a horrible death without palliative care and without any money. It is criminal and ought to be treated as such.
To quote: “The growth of CAM matters – it trades in false hope, it is bad for our health, it threatens our intellectual culture, it wastes public money and it undermines some of our most important and valued institutions.”
I went looking for this book yesterday – I’m reading a copy a friend lent me – and after going into two bookshops I was finally able to get hold of a copy in the third. Needless to say, it was in the alternative health section – where there were plenty of books available to tell you how to heal yourself through aromatherapy or any of a range of other such pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo.
Part of Rose Shapiro’s thesis is that in the 1950 and 60s the message coming out of the medical profession was that we are mostly responsible for our own health outcomes. Smoking and drinking and other life choices we make have major impacts on our health. But this has become part of an obsession with wellness. We now seek treatments even when we are, to all intents and purposes, fully well. And what about this for a statistic: “A poll of American Households in the 1920s reported 82 episodes of illness from all causes per 100 of the population. A similar survey conducted in the 1980s reported 212 illnesses per 100. This 158 per cent rise in illness perception not only defies the advances in health care during the twentieth century but shows how what could be described as the sickness threshold has plummeted.”
If we are to believe we are ill when we are perfectly well, then we will have no trouble in finding quacks who will be more than happy to invent labels to describe these supposed illnesses and perform cash-endectomies on our purses.
This stuff is the new religion, but while religion (in its ugly creationist/intelligent design incarnation) is yet to succeed in getting into our schools under the guise of science – CAM has been much more successful. You can get a BSc in this nonsense!
I’m sorry, but a Science Degree needs to be limited to subjects that practice the scientific method – not just those that want to bask in the reflected glory of science. These people are actively opposed to double-blind testing being used on their foolishness. They are the opposite of science and they promote practices that are not just unproven, but that have been disproven and that have been shown to cause harm. The stuff in this book about Western prescription medicines being found in Tradition Chinese Medications is shocking. These people are a danger to society and need to be treated as such.
Read this book.
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June 10
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GibsonGirl
gave
to:
A Buffalo in the House: The True Story About a Man, an Animal, and the American West (Hardcover)
by R. D. Rosen
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in June, 2008
GibsonGirl said:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Pros: Richly detailed history of the decline and recovery of the North Amer...more
I got this from a friend, and she loved it. I have mixed feelings about it, as it is a mix of history and the personal experience of a couple who raised an abandoned calf.
Pros: Richly detailed history of the decline and recovery of the North American Buffalo. The author traces the histories of the people who saved small herds which became the breeding stock of today's wild and ranched buffalo.
Cons: Roger Brooks and Veryl Goodnight, a retired airline pilot and a sculptor, wanted a buffalo calf so that the calf could be a model for a sculpture. The husband becomes attached to the creature, who quickly becomes a house pet, then as he gets too large, stabled and cared for in a farm-like setting.
All of the mishaps and tragedies experienced by the buffalo calf, "Charlie" are directly related to the hubris of the Brooks-Goodnights in thinking that only they were capable of caring for this huge animal.
Throughout the book, the protagonists and the author muse about people who irresponsibly make pets of wild animals, while protesting that their case is much, much different! I lost any respect for the artist, who was once a certified wildlife rehabilitator, when I read of her domestication of a prairie dog and her attempts to domesticate a coyote. So. Keeping wild animals is bad, unless you have a lot of money, a famous family, and you really really love them....less
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June 07
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GibsonGirl
gave
to:
The Complete Persepolis (Paperback)
by Marjane Satrapi
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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March 21
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GibsonGirl
marked as to-read:
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel (Paperback)
by Gregory Maguire
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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GibsonGirl
gave
to:
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Paperback)
by Gregory Maguire
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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GibsonGirl
gave
to:
Images in Stone: Southwest Rock Art (Hardcover)
by Polly Schaafsma
bookshelves:
artists_and_photographers
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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GibsonGirl said:
"Beautiful photographs of rock art.
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GibsonGirl
gave
to:
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait (Hardcover)
by Frida Kahlo
bookshelves:
artists_and_photographers
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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GibsonGirl said:
"I received this as a gift from a dear friend, and she couldn't have picked a better book. It has pages from Kahlo's diary reproduced along with discussions of her techniques, perceived state of mind, and biography. Wonderful in every way, a glimpse i...more
I received this as a gift from a dear friend, and she couldn't have picked a better book. It has pages from Kahlo's diary reproduced along with discussions of her techniques, perceived state of mind, and biography. Wonderful in every way, a glimpse into this enigmatic artist....less
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GibsonGirl
gave
to:
Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions (Mass Market Paperback)
by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads author!)
bookshelves:
keepers
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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recommended for: Short Story fans
read in March, 2008
GibsonGirl said:
"I just finished this book of short stories and poems by Neil Gaiman. Yes, I'm a slavering fan-girl when it comes to Gaiman, and I love short stories in general. There are some standouts here - Shoggoth's old Peculiar is delightful, and I love...more
I just finished this book of short stories and poems by Neil Gaiman. Yes, I'm a slavering fan-girl when it comes to Gaiman, and I love short stories in general. There are some standouts here - Shoggoth's old Peculiar is delightful, and I loved the alternate tale of Snow White, where our darling girl is transformed into something a bit more... Gaiman-ish.
Overall, hours of entertainment, well worth the price of the book. I'm definitely not taking this one back to Half Price!...less
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GibsonGirl
added a quote:
"Steal what works, fix what's broke, fake the rest."
— post-cyberpunk creed
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TT & friends
— 61 members
— last activity 06/11/2008 01:03PM
