This Book May Cause Side Effects

‘This Book May Cause Side Effects deals with the central philosophical quandaries of humankind: how we conceptualise mind and matter, and to what extent we can shape our own destinies … this ambitious and fascinating book will add to our understanding of these mercurial and controversial questions’ – Farrah Jarral * Guardian *‘A wild and sometimes shocking ride … Doctors, take note’ – Simon Ings * Telegraph *‘So compelling … Surely correct that better knowledge of the nocebo effect would be good for everyone’s health’ * The Times *‘A fascinating foray into the mysterious relationship between body and mind’ * Publishers Weekly *‘Absolutely fascinating and never more relevant than today. Helen has a talent for making confusing subjects clear in your mind. I will be recommending this one far and wide’ – Dr Julie Smith, author of Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?‘Few medical phenomena are as fascinating as the nocebo effect, and few science writers are as engaging as Helen Pilcher. This entrancing book will change the way you think about your mind and your body’ – David Robson, author of The Expectation Effect and The Laws of Connection‘Absolutely fizzing with fascination. Helen Pilcher knows just the stories to make ideas stick and she tells them so fluently. What makes her storytelling so captivating is that it shows us just how susceptible to stories we are - to the point of possible death. This book will widen your range of understanding of who you are and how your complexity offers a whole new world of risks that are both real and not real. It may cause side effects, but it will be really good for your health too’ – Robin Ince, former co-host of The Infinite Monkey Cage‘This subversive and devastating takedown of the mind-body binary will change the way you think about health, medicine, and that body part known as the mind. Revelatory’ – Sonia Shah, author of Pandemic‘Helen Pilcher brilliantly unpacks the powerful - and often overlooked - ways our expectations shape our physiology … A compelling call to reexamine how we communicate about illness, how we frame risk, and how we harness the mind’s extraordinary power for good rather than harm. It should be required reading for clinicians and patients alike’ – Dr Robynne Chutkan, author of Gutbliss and host of The Gutbliss Podcast

Helen Pilcher is a science writer and former scientist with a PhD in cell biology. She contributes regularly to BBC Wildlife and BBC Science Focus, and has penned many popular science books. Life Changing was named a Science Book of the Year by The Times and was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing.

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