Books about Misconceptions from Amazon.com

A London researcher was the first to assert that the combination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine known as MMR caused autism in children Following this "discovery," a handful of parents declared that a mercury-containing preservative in several vaccines was responsible for the disease. If mercury caused autism, they reasoned, eliminating it from a child's system should treat the disorder. Consequently, a number of untested alternative therapies arose, and, most tragically, in one such treatment, a doctor injected a five-year-old autistic boy with a chemical in an effort to cleanse him of mercury, which stopped his heart instead.

Children with autism have been placed on stringent diets, subjected to high-temperature saunas, bathed in magnetic clay, asked to swallow digestive enzymes and activated charcoal, and injected with various combinations of vitamins, minerals, and acids. Instead of helping, these therapies can hurt those who are most vulnerable, and particularly in the case of autism, they undermine childhood vaccination programs that have saved millions of lives. An overwhelming body of scientific evidence clearly shows that childhood vaccines are safe and does not cause autism. Yet widespread fear of vaccines on the part of parents persists.

In this book, Paul A. Offit, a national expert on vaccines, challenges the modern-day false prophets who have so egregiously misled the public and exposes the opportunism of the lawyers, journalists, celebrities, and politicians who support them. Offit recounts the history of autism research and the exploitation of this tragic condition by advocates and zealots. He considers the manipulation of science in the popular media and the courtroom, and he explores why society is susceptible to the bad science and risky therapies put forward by many antivaccination activists.

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Price: $12.47 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Advance praise for Philip Plait s Bad Astronomy

"Bad Astronomy is just plain good! Philip Plait clears up every misconception on astronomy and space you never knew you suffered from." --Stephen Maran, Author of Astronomy for Dummies and editor of The Astronomy and Astrophysics Encyclopedia

"Thank the cosmos for the bundle of star stuff named Philip Plait, who is the world s leading consumer advocate for quality science in space and on Earth. This important contribution to science will rest firmly on my reference library shelf, ready for easy access the next time an astrologer calls." --Dr. Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, and author of The Borderlands of Science

"Philip Plait has given us a readable, erudite, informative, useful, and entertaining book. Bad Astronomy is Good Science. Very good science..." --James "The Amazing" Randi, President, James Randi Educational Foundation, and author of An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural

"Bad Astronomy is a fun read. Plait is wonderfully witty and educational as he debunks the myths, legends, and 'conspiracies that abound in our society. 'The Truth Is Out There' and it's in this book. I loved it!" --Mike Mullane, Space Shuttle astronaut and author of Do Your Ears Pop in Space?.
Price: $8.85 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"Karl Keating is simply one of the best Catholic apologists alive. He writes in the tradition of, and as a worthy successor to, Fred Sheed and Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He is thoroughly orthodox, reasonable, clear, and interesting"....Ralph McInermy..
Price: $7.24 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Do you know what’s really good for you?

In this age of countless miracle cures, it’s vital to separate the myths that endanger your health from the medical facts you need.

FACT:
Unfiltered coffee can clog your arteries

FACT:
Donating blood may lower your risk of heart disease

FACT:
You don’t really need eight glasses of water a day.

FACT:
Coughing won’t help if you’re having a heart attack. (But aspirin will!)

We’ve become a nation of cyberchondriacs, diagnosing ourselves with false information and half-truths found on sketchy websites. In Medical Myths That Can Kill You, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, chief medical editor for NBC News, provides clear, practical, scientifically proven advice that can lead you to a healthier, happier life.

Discover the simple, everyday things that affect well-being, and get the information you need to revitalize your body, maintain your longevity, manage your care, and possibly even save a life–yours..
Price: $5.88 [Notify me when price goes down.]

How parents, teachers, and even professionals are being deceived by the "ADHD Establishment" regarding ADHD and other childhood behavior disorders and the drugs used to treat them.

The issue of diagnosing children with behavioral diseases that do not conform to a scientific definition of disease, and then medicating them is a scandal ready to erupt. In The Diseasing of America's Children, popular family psychologist, speaker, and best-selling author John Rosemond joins with pediatrician Dr. Bose Ravenel to uncover the fiction and fallacy behind attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), early-onset biopolar disorder (EOBD), and the drugs prescribed to treat them. Rosemond and Ravenel will:

• reveal the pseudo-science behind these diagnoses
• explain how parents, teachers, and even professionals are deceived
• expose the short- and long-term dangers behavioral drugs pose to children
• discuss how America's schools are unwittingly feeding the diagnostic beast
• reveal the simple, common sense truth behind these behavior problems
• and give parents a practical program for curing these problems without drugs or dependence on professionals

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Price: $12.49 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Break through the 10 big diet myths!

"In Weight Loss That Lasts, James M. Rippe and Weight Watchers show common sense and good science in a field characterized by chaos and confusion They expose a series of 10 myths pervasive in the weight-loss industry, revealing both the kernels of truth they contain and how they have been misinterpreted and distorted. This book is incisive and refreshing."
—Claude Bouchard, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, and President of the International Association for the Study of Obesity

Believers Beware!

Discover how common myths may be holding you back from your weight-loss goals:

• MYTH #1 You can't lose weight and keep it off
• MYTH #2 A few extra pounds don't matter
• MYTH #3 Willpower is the key to successful weight loss
• MYTH #4 You can lose weight with exercise alone
• MYTH #5 Calories don't matter-avoid fats or carbs to lose weight successfully
• MYTH #6 You can't lose weight if you have the wrong metabolism or genes
• MYTH #7 You can boost your metabolism by what, how, and when you eat
• MYTH #8 It doesn't matter how you take the weight off; you can think about keeping it off later
• MYTH #9 There is only one right approach to losing weight
• MYTH #10 Your weight is your problem and you need to solve it on your own

In this book, renowned expert Dr. James M. Rippe and Weight Watchers give you the scientific knowledge you need to break through the myths, get off the dieting roller coaster, and shed those pounds for keeps..
Price: $5.75 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book takes the student on a journey through his own mind and returns him to the chess board with a wealth of new-found knowledge and the promise of a significant gain in strength. Most amateurs possess erroneous thinking processes that remain with them throughout their chess lives. These flaws in their mental armour result in stinging defeats and painful reversals. Books can be bought and studied, lessons can be taken -- but in the end, these elusive problems always prove to be extremely difficult to eradicate. Seeking a solution to this dilemma, the author wrote down the thoughts of his students while they played actual games, analysed them, and catalogued the most common misconceptions that arose. This second edition greatly expands on the information contained in the popular first edition..
Price: $10.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In The Beauty Myth the fearless Naomi Wolf revolutionized the way we think about beauty. In Misconceptions, she demythologizes motherhood and reveals the dangers of common assumptions about childbirth. With uncompromising honesty she describes how hormones eroded her sense of independence, ultrasounds tested her commitment to abortion rights, and the keepers of the OB/GYN establishment lacked compassion. The weeks after her first daughter’s birth taught her how society, employers, and even husbands can manipulate new mothers. She had bewildering post partum depression, but learned that a surprisingly high.percentage of women experience it.
Wolf’s courageous willingness to talk about the unexpected difficulties of childbirth will help every woman become a more knowledgeable planner of her pregnancy and better prepare her for the challenges of balancing a career, freedom, and a growing family. Invaluable in its advice to parents, Misconceptions speaks to anyone connected–personally, medically, or professionally–to a new mother..
Price: $4.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Listen to a short interview with Matthew Connelly
Host: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & Crane

Fatal Misconception is the disturbing story of our quest to remake humanity by policing national borders and breeding better people. As the population of the world doubled once, and then again, well-meaning people concluded that only population control could preserve the "quality of life." This movement eventually spanned the globe and carried out a series of astonishing experiments, from banning Asian immigration to paying poor people to be sterilized.

Supported by affluent countries, foundations, and non-governmental organizations, the population control movement experimented with ways to limit population growth. But it had to contend with the Catholic Church's ban on contraception and nationalist leaders who warned of "race suicide." The ensuing struggle caused untold suffering for those caught in the middle--particularly women and children. It culminated in the horrors of sterilization camps in India and the one-child policy in China.

Matthew Connelly offers the first global history of a movement that changed how people regard their children and ultimately the face of humankind. It was the most ambitious social engineering project of the twentieth century, one that continues to alarm the global community. Though promoted as a way to lift people out of poverty--perhaps even to save the earth--family planning became a means to plan other people‘s families.

With its transnational scope and exhaustive research into such archives as Planned Parenthood and the newly opened Vatican Secret Archives, Connelly's withering critique uncovers the cost inflicted by a humanitarian movement gone terribly awry and urges renewed commitment to the reproductive rights of all people.

(20080114).
Price: $20.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

How often have you heard it stated on TV, in the press, or by an acquaintance that the wall of separation between church and state are words taken right out of the US Constitution? In fact, the First Amendment to the Constitution - what is popularly referred to as the establishment clause, the only part of the US Constitution that even deals with religion and faith contains no reference whatsoever to a wall of separation, or, for that matter, any sort of wording including the phrase separation of church and state. The only words in the US Constitution concerning this topic are found in the First Amendment, where it is written: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof... That s it. Yet these sixteen words have been elaborately interpreted by some as having a meaning that has no basis in the founders intentions or historic record. Where then has this mountain of contention come from, resulting in a wall of misconception between church and state, and indeed between God and government? The phrase wall of separation was coined by Thomas Jefferson in his private 1802 letter of response to the Danbury Baptist Association, wherein he reaffirmed the federal government s intention to protect the public s rights of conscience to believe and practice their faith without fear of interference from government. Several prominent citizens rights organizations will contend that this purported wall is being routinely breached by people of faith, yet others will assert that any action by the government to impede an individual s right to pray in school or at a public event, to display a Christmas tree in public or to say one nation under God in the Pledge of Allegiance is itself a violation of the First Amendment. In Wall of Misconception, Dr. Peter Lillback examines our nation's historic understanding of and the founding fathers intention in the relationship of our Constitution to matters of faith, ethics, and morals, taking into account the historical and biblical context as well as the concept s relation to today s culture. This is both the layman's and professional's definitive guide to the separation of church and state and, indeed, the separation of God and government..
Price: $9.44 [Notify me when price goes down.]