SNAKE OIL AND OTHER PREOCCUPATIONS

With wit, informality and -- thank heaven! -- common sense, LONDON TIMES journalist John Diamond attacks the modern mountebanks of alternative medicine. Diamond was dying of cancer as he was researching this book. Far from making him more credulous or more cynical, his disease gave him a razor-sharp eye for the truth. You know this man researched his subject thoroughly. Neil Pearson gives the right touch to the text, light but not frivolous. There is no self-pity in the writing (which is very good), or in the execution. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 02]