A Scientist in Wonderland Quotes

“The fact that any person or institution, however well respected, praises or adopts something never constitutes proof of anything. It might merely illustrate that even well-educated people or powerful institutions can sometimes commit the silliest and most obvious of mistakes.”
― Edzard Ernst, A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble

“there is no such thing as alternative medicine; there are just treatments that work, and those that don’t.”
― Edzard Ernst, A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble

“Slowly but surely I became resigned to the fact that, for some alternative medicine zealots, no amount of explanation would ever suffice. To them, alternative medicine seemed to have mutated into a religion, a cult whose central creed must be defended at all costs against the infidel.”
― Edzard Ernst, A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble

“the entire notion of detoxification as used and promoted in alternative medicine is biologically meaningless and confers absolutely no health benefits.”
― Edzard Ernst, A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble

“if there were indeed effective natural, alternative cancer cures known to—but suppressed by—oncologists, no oncologist, nor any friend, colleague or family member of an oncologist, would ever die of cancer.”
― Edzard Ernst, A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble

“getting vehemently attacked by homeopaths for not having any formal qualifications in homeopathy is hilarious considering that, in the UK (and in many other countries), no qualifications whatever are required to practise or research homeopathy.”
― Edzard Ernst, A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble

“What I vehemently disagreed with was the implication that, simply because pharmaceuticals often have serious side effects, the risks of alternative medicine should be spared scrutiny. This seemed to me to be a total non sequitur.”
― Edzard Ernst, A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble

“Any effective treatment—effective beyond placebo that is—will generate a specific effect plus a placebo effect, provided that clinicians administer it with sufficient time, dedication, compassion and empathy.”
― Edzard Ernst, A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble

“An uncritical scientist is a contradiction in terms: if you meet one, chances are that you have encountered a charlatan. By contrast, a critical clinician is a true rarity, in my experience. If you meet one, chances are that you have found a good and responsible doctor.”
― Edzard Ernst, A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble

“Alternative medicine had begun its remarkable ascent in a general climate of unreason. Incrementally, over the past two decades, we have seen the emergence of a culture that is curiously indifferent to the concept of truth. There is not one truth now, but many—all of them interchangeable, all of them of equal weight, and all deserving of equal consideration. In this Wonderland of relative facts, parallel truths and intellectual legerdemain, basing an argument on flawed reasoning does not automatically disqualify or even devalue it. To the contrary: logical fallacies are tolerated—indeed, often celebrated—as manifestations of a much-needed diversity.”
― Edzard Ernst, A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble