Afterwards, You're a Genius

by Chip Brown

Examines the growing popularity of alternative medicine, and discusses the mind-body connection in healing

Genres: Nonfiction, Metaphysics

398 pages, Hardcover

First published December 28, 1998

Reviews

[Evanston Public Library]

Chip Brown caught my eye two decades ago with a strong New Yorker article (“I Now Walk Into the Wild,” about the doomed young hiker Chris McCandless). Even in that great magazine the article stood out for its eloquence, balance and sensitivity. I picked up this book looking for something similar on the topic of non-standard medical treatment. As in the New Yorker, Brown ponders rather than opines here, in an anecdotal style that's always clever, and often brilliant.

Like his readers, Brown believes in the scientific method: verifiable (or disprovable) hypotheses. But he knows that many of the same readers also believe in phenomena that can’t be tested: God, for example, or ineffable connections between lovers or between parents and children. This leads him toward poetic musings about his search for truths in healing, more than toward actual results. If you know this going in you’ll probably enjoy the book. (Jeff B., Reader's Services)

[Paul Wilner]

Brown, one of the best known magazine journalists in the country, originally started this as a project for Tina Brown's New Yorker but didn't give them what they wanted; he starts out as a skeptic then becomes increasingly sympathetic, though never credulous. A fascinating look at a world too often dismissed by the self-important rationalists (Hitchens) or hyped by the New Agers. Worth reading as a literary document alone; interesting for what else it might have to offer, too.

[Cj Sime · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think this guy likes to hear himself prattle and yammer.