Follies & Fallacies In Medicine

by Petr Skrabanek, James McCormick

Trop de prescriptions inutiles, de diagnostics rigides, se cachent encore derrière l'autorité et la bonne conscience de la médecine officielle, soucieuse de taire les limites de son pouvoir et de son savoir. Ce livre dénonce les illusions auxquelles conduisent la religion moderne de la santé et le rêve d'un monde débarrassé de la maladie. Professeur au Trinity College, Petr Skrabanek est l'enfant terrible de la médecine irlandaise, tandis que James Mc Cormick accumule les honneurs outre-Manche.

Genres: Medicine, Science

147 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1990

About the author

Petr Skrabanek (October 27, 1940 – June 21, 1994) was a doctor, physician, professor of medicine, and author of several books and many articles. Skrabanek was described by Ben Goldacre as "a lifelong champion of clear thinking, scepticism, and critical appraisal", and expressed vocal criticism of what he dubbed "cacademics", "quackupuncturists" and "nonsensus-consensus". Skrabanek was a polymath, loving jazz, history, literature and playing the piano. He spoke several languages thanks to which he was able to deeply study Joyce's last work - the avant-garde novel Finnegans Wake.

Reviews

[Donald Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim book created as much impact as Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses' when it came out according to some commentators. It challenged the orthodoxy, which never goes down well. This is a delightful and insightful book with much to consider when considering public health and medical issues.

It brings an authority to numerous aspects of healthcare. Challenging the interpretation that medical authorities make when interpreting research data, RCT's and all things that determine what doctors should do to improve their patients care.

There are more than a fistful of fallacies in this book that will make you want to dip in and learn about mainstream and alternative medicine. Their take on homeopathy and Karl Popper is particularly well expressed and cutting. It made me laugh, which is unusual in such a topic.

The author's know their territory and their map is full of interesting places to visit for the medical tourist. Pack your sunscreen and buy a ticket now.

[Jim B · Rating 2 out of 5]

My main takeaway from this book was "doctors are sometimes wrong and scientific papers can be hard to understand, so we should smoke and drink and eat as much as we want of whatever we want, because we're going to die anyway." If that wasn't the point the authors intended, then they did a poor job of getting their true intentions across.
They did do pretty good at lambasting alternative medicine in one chapter, so for that I doubled the number of stars I'd otherwise have given.

[عمر الحمادي · Rating 4 out of 5]

رغم أن الكتاب مر عليه أكثر من ثلاثين عاماً إلا أنه لم يفقد أهميته في إرساء قواعد التعامل مع المغالطات المنطقية في الصحة... وللأسف لم يجد طريقه بعد إلى المكتبة العربية.