The Magic Feather Effect
eBook - ePub

The Magic Feather Effect

The Science of Alternative Medicine and the Surprising Power of Belief

  1. 288 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Magic Feather Effect

The Science of Alternative Medicine and the Surprising Power of Belief

About this book

The acclaimed author of Pandora's Lunchbox and former New York Times reporter delivers an " entertaining and highly useful book that gives you the tools to understand how alternative medicine works, so you can confidently make up your own mind" ( The Washington Post ). We all know someone who has had a seemingly miraculous cure from an alternative form of medicine: a friend whose chronic back pain vanished after sessions with an acupuncturist or chiropractor; a relative with digestive issues who recovered with herbal remedies; a colleague whose autoimmune disorder went into sudden inexplicable remission thanks to an energy healer or healing retreat.The tales are far too common to be complete fabrications, yet too anecdotal and outside the medical mainstream to be taken seriously scientifically. How do we explain them and the growing popularity of alternative medicine more generally? In The Magic Feather Effect, author and journalist Melanie Warner takes us on a vivid, important journey through the world of alternative medicine. Visiting prestigious research clinics and ordinary people's homes, she investigates the scientific underpinning for the purportedly magical results of these practices and reveals not only the medical power of beliefs and placebo effects, but also the range, limits, and uses of the surprising system of self-healing that resides inside us.Equal parts helpful, illuminating, and compelling, The Magic Feather Effect is a "well-written survey of alternative medicine…fair-minded, thorough, and focused on verifiable scientific research" ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).Warner's enlightening, engaging deep dive into the world of alternative medicine and the surprising science that explains why it may work is an essential read.

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Yes, you can access The Magic Feather Effect by Melanie Warner in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Medicine & Alternative & Complementary Medicine. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. 1. Donna’s Eden
  5. 2. Lost in Translation
  6. 3. Telltale Toothpicks
  7. 4. The Pharmacy Within
  8. 5. Healing Partners
  9. 6. My Back Is Out
  10. 7. This Feeling in My Body
  11. 8. Brain Pain
  12. 9. The Illness of Disease
  13. 10. The Zen Response
  14. 11. The Emotional Rescue
  15. 12. All in My Head
  16. 13. Something to Believe In
  17. 14. Believing Is Seeing
  18. 15. Why Doctors Need to Be More Like Alternative Healers (and Vice Versa)
  19. Acknowledgments
  20. About the Author
  21. Notes
  22. Index
  23. Copyright