Don't Believe What You Think

<p>So-called alternative medicine (SCAM*) is largely useless; very few SCAMs demonstrably generate more good than harm. Yet SCAM is popular and has grown into a huge business. Spending on SCAM in Australia (2016) was estimated to be AUS$3.9bn in the UK (2008) £4.5bn and in the US (2012) US $30.2bn. Why is something that is expensive and useless nevertheless popular? One answer is that consumers are constantly being misled about SCAM. Consequently many of us have come to believe things that are quite simply not true. Currently over 50000000 websites promote SCAM and consumers are being bombarded with information not just via the internet but also via newspapers magazines books and many other sources.</p><p>This situation has the potential of separating us from our cash or even of damaging our health. There is little that protects us from greedy SCAM-entrepreneurs and over-enthusiastic SCAM-therapists. Therefore we ought to protect ourselves.</p><p>This book offers this protection for anyone who is willing to reconsider their own beliefs. It discloses the errors and lies that misled you into believing things about SCAM that are untrue. It analyses the many falsehoods used in the promotion of SCAM explains the erroneous thinking behind them and presents the scientific evidence in easily understandable terms. In a way Ernst's new book amounts to a course in critical thinking a skill that should prove to be helpful far beyond the realm of healthcare.</p><p> </p><p>*Ernst's previous book was entitled <em>SCAM: So-Called Alternative Medicine</em>.</p>