Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
Where does Gupta rate on the Quackmeter?
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=367
The question I sought to answer was, “is Sanjay Gupta a crank?”
The short answer is: I’m not sure. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that he is a crank, I think he’s more likely to be a shruggie. For those of you who haven’t read my post on shruggies, here’s the definition:Shruggie (noun): a person who doesn’t care about the science versus pseudoscience debate.
The longer answer involves an exploration of Gupta’s disturbing insistence on flirting with cranks, if it gets him publicity. The back cover of Chasing Life caries an endorsement from Deepak Chopra – and the inside page a favorable review from Andrew Weil. Normally, I would assume that the author of any book endorsed by those two would contain an intolerable blend of science and pseudoscience and refuse to read it. But for the sake of the readers of Science Based Medicine, I stifled my gag reflex and purchased the book.
On the quackometer scale (where zero is Barker Bausell’s Snake Oil Science, and 10 is anything written by Suzanne Somers) I’d give this book a 5. Not exactly full frontal quackery, but also some really concerning misstatements and an openness to snake oil that scares me.
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There is a certain self-promotion about him. He has political aspirations and was in the running to be Obama's Surgeon General. Then again . . . . he's a skilled neurosurgeon and his abilities would naturally be highly prized on the ground in a war zone or disaster zone.
Cowperson