/lit/ - Literature

Snake Oil Science is a book I just recently read by biostatistican R. Barker Bausell, on the placebo effect, complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) and the quality of clinical trials.
While it's more of a "I'm interested in that topic" kinda book than a "I'm going to read this for fun"-work, it's very well and entertainingly written and never bores the reader, no matter how detailed and scientific the explanations.
The main question of the book is this "Does any alternative treatment have a stronger healing effect than the corresponding placebo effect kight have?" (I'm not going to spoil the obvious), and while this, coupled with the books title, may seem like a work from someone with a strong bias against CAM, it actually makes a reasonable case for alternative medicine, while being scientifically sound and well thought-out.
Anyone even remotely interested in any of the named subjects should read this book.