Anthony Campbell

I have just published Medical Acupuncture: A Practical Guide. It is an illustrated companion to my textbook of modern acupuncture, Acupuncture in Practice: Beyond Points and Meridians. It is primarily intended for people who have attended one of my courses in modern medical acupuncture but it should also be useful to people who have attended other courses in this form of treatment.

I've decided to make my books available as e-books in a variety of formats, including those for Kindle and the Sony Reader. I don't suppose I shall be getting one of those devices myself (though who knows?) but I think they may finally be about to take off in a big way, after a decade of promises. We shall see.

The following books are now available:

1. Homeopathy in Perspective
2. Totality Beliefs and the Religious Imagination
3. Religion, Language, Narrative and the Search for Meaning.
4. The Assassins of Alamut

You can sample the books quite extensively before purchase.

My new book, Religion, Language, Narrative and the Search for Meaning is now published and available on Amazon.com. Also available as an e-book now.

This is a book about religion from a secular standpoint which nevertheless takes its subject seriously. Contrary to some secularists I don't think religion is likely to disappear any time soon, and here I look at some of the reasons why it is likely to stay. The early chapters consider a number of explanations for religion that are current today; all provide elements of the answer though none is fully satisfactory as it stands. In the remainder of the book I try to develop a way of thinking about religion, using two main clues: language and narrative. There are remarkable similarities in the ways in which we learn both language and religion. As for narrative, I think that religion is based more on telling stories than on assent to formal belief systems. Narrative is how most religious people encounter their religions. Humans are story-telling animals and for that reason alone it is likely that religion will continue to exist. Another reason is the capacity of the human mind to give rise to altered states of consciousness; unlike, some, I think that these are important in shaping our religious ideas.

This blog is primarily written for my own purposes, to try out ideas and pieces of writing that interest me but which don't (yet) merit a full-length article on my web page. Like the rest of what I write, the tone is mainly sceptical. In so far as there is a general theme, it's meant to be my own modest contribution to keeping alive the values of the Enlightenment, which seem to be under increasing threat today.

My new book, The Assassins of Alamut, is now available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Also available as an e-book now.

This is a historical study of the Muslim sect known as the Assassins, and includes an explanation of their extraordinary world view. The book will interest readers who are curious about Islamic heresies, the origins of terrorism, and the stranger by-ways of the religious impulse.

My new book, Totality Beliefs and the Religious Imagination, is just out and is available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Also available ad an e-book now.

Description

There seems to be a widespread notion that belief is, in itself, a good thing, but in this book I argue that, for at least some people, freeing oneself from all belief systems brings a huge sense of relief. I illustrate this by describing my own experience of Roman Catholicism and Transcendental Meditation. I also look at the evidence for miraculous cures for cancer and at ideas about the soul, with particular reference to survival. And I have a discussion of how religions are transmitted, which I think depends on story-telling and language as much as on formal belief.

You can read a review of the book by Taner Edis here and another by Edward Tabash here. There is also a review by John Floyd at amazon.com.

My book Homeopathy in Perspective is now available from Lulu and Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. Also available as an e-book now.

This is a book about what homeopathy is, how it developed, where it stands today. It is a critical book but not a hatchet job. It is written for people with questioning minds. Anyone who has already adopted a fixed opinion about homeopathy, either for or against, may receive the odd shock.

No prior knowledge is assumed but the book is not only for beginners. Even if you have read quite a lot about homeopathy you will probably find that you view it differently when you have finished.

The book is written with inside knowledge. I was a consultant physician at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital for over 20 years.

The BBC news this morning perpetrated the increasingly common misuse of "mitigate". In an item on the clarification of the law on assisted suicide we were told that the Director of Public Prosecutions would provide guidance on "what factors might mitigate against someone being prosecuted".

To mitigate is to lessen the severity of something, such as a threat. But you don't "mitigate against" anything. Probably what was meant was "militate against", which would at least be grammatical though perhaps not a good choice of words in this case. I don't know what I'd do if I were a BBC news reader and found myself expected to read out this kind of stuff.

Comments still temporarily suspended because of spam; sorry about that.

The Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons has just announced its view that the NHS should cease funding homeopathy. It also concludes that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) should not allow homeopathic product labels to make medical claims without evidence of efficacy. This would mean that homeopathic medicines would no longer be licensed by the MHRA.

The stated reason for the Committee's view is that homeopathy has no effect beyond the placebo. They say that further clinical trials of homeopathy cannot be justified.

This announcement will certainly provoke a huge amount of protest both from homeopaths and from their patients, not to mention at least two members of the Royal Family. A great many patients undoubtedly do feel that they obtain benefit from homeopathy. As I say in my book, Homeopathy in Perspective (see entry above), I think homeopathy is best understood as a form of psychotherapy. Thus, although a homeopathic consultation may include the prescribing of a placebo, the whole setting contributes to the therapeutic effect. The patient has the opportunity to discuss her or his problems with a sympathetic person in a structured context. It doesn't matter if the theory is wrong. What is important is the structure - this is what differentiates the consultation from a chat with a friend. In this respect homeopathy is very similar to other forms of psychotherapy, most of which also lack a good evidence base.

The announcement from the Committee touches on the difficult subject of placebos. How ethical is it for doctors to prescribe them knowingly? The current consensus is that it involves deceiving the patient and therefore is unethical, but in fact surveys have shown that doctors still do prescribe placebos.

Moreover, it's not just homeopathy that makes use of the placebo effect: so, too, does conventional medicine. As an article in The Guardian remarked on 19 February, citing an study in The Lancet (2010;375:686-695), placebos have plenty of "real" effects on body systems. Indeed, if you think about it, you realise that this must be the case. Unless you are a dualist, believing in a separate mind hovering outside the body, the only way a placebo could work is by modifying how the brain and body work.

I think it would be a mistake to outlaw placebos entirely in clinical practice, even if that were feasible. What we need to do is to find an acceptable way of using them. We should frame descriptions that avoid deceiving the patient about what is happening. This may seem impossible - would a placebo work if the patient knew it was being used? Oddly enough, there is some evidence that it can!

I've just posted my review of The Mongol Art of War on my book review page. A good account of the subject for the general reader.

I just posted my review of Smile or Die,, by Barbara Ehrenreich. This is an incisive demolition of the American fondness of positive thinking - facile optimism in defiance of the facts - which is spreading like a cancer in many other societies. Great stuff!

I've just published my review of Breakthrough, by Ken Grimwood. It was his first published novel, to be followed by the very impressive Replay. Both books manage the difficult feat of melding the philosophy of personal identity with fiction.

I've just posted my review of Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins.

In today's "Thought for the Day" Clifford Longley rightly remarked that the fact that couples who are married are more likely to stay together than those who cohabit does not prove that there is a causal relationship between marriage and stability. As I said on 11 July 2007 about David Cameron's advocacy of marriage, it is equally possible that it is mostly those cohabiting couples who are confident that their situation is likely to be stable who decide to get married. On the face of it, trying things out for a few years seems likely to tell people that they can get on together. If marriage is a lottery, a peep into the hat before the tickets are drawn doesn't seem like a bad idea.

The involvement of the Church in solemnising marriage is a relatively recent phenomenon, having arisen during the Middle Ages. At least for common people, marriage was previously a more informal affair.