Product Description

At the time of his death from cancer on 1 March 2001, journalist and broadcaster John Diamond had completed six chapters of what was to be "an uncomplimentary look at the world of complementary medicine". These chapters, based on his own experience and on researched fact, which were emailed each week to his editors at Random House, are both personal and poignant, hard hitting and controversial, tackling the issues raised by alternative medicine with total candour and his usual wit. The second half of this book features some of the best of Diamond's writing, including a selection of emails to colleagues and friends, articles from "The Times" and the "Jewish Chronicle" and other publications, together with excerpts from his final notebook. For seven years he wrote an immensely popular weekly column in "The Times" which, following his diagnosis with cancer, was given over to following the progress of the disease. As well as gaining him a Columnist of the Year award, it resulted in an avalanche of mail from thousands of his readers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #269160 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 296 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Author of Snake Oil, John Diamond, believed journalism to be an ephemeral thing: "If I wanted to write for posterity's sake, I'll start another unfinishable book." Sadly, he did. At the time of his death, on March 2, 2001, Diamond had written six chapters of Snake Oil. Intended to be "an uncomplimentary view of complementary medicine", he was spurred into writing the book by the 5,000 letters he received suggesting alternative cures for his terminal cancer.

In the book Diamond sets out to prove that the protagonists of alternativism are, at best, gullible and misguided, at worst, con-merchants and quacks. The uncompleted book ends with the words: "Let me explain." Unfortunately, he wasn't given the chance. The remainder of the book is made up from a selection of Diamond's articles and columns, which, edited by brother-in-law Dominic Lawson, were chosen on "the basis of his humour rather than his tumour". As a freelancer, Diamond wrote about anything for anyone. Consequently, the "preoccupations" cover every subject under the sun, including soggy bread, middle age , donor cards, first dates and bottled water: " ... the perfect accompaniment to good food and fine wines, it can even be served as a refreshing drink in its own right". But, post diagnosis, it's Diamond's columns for The Times which hit home hardest. As his condition progresses, Diamond remains stoically reflective without ever sounding resentful; always moving, but never maudlin, his insouciant prose conveys a humbling bravery. John Diamond may have considered journalism to be a transitory art form, but as this collection of his work shows, his writing makes an indelible impression. --Christopher Kelly

About the Author
Since he was diagnosed as having cancer, John Diamond has dedicated his weekly column in The Times to following the progress of the disease. He also writes each week about television for The Sunday Telegraph and the media for the Evening Standard. Until cancer got his tongue he presented Fourth Column and After Hours for BBC Radio, and has presented a number of TV series, including the popular science show Tomorrow's World. He is married to Nigella Lawson, with whom he has two children, they live in London.

Customer Reviews

Something important to say
John Diamond's unfinished book about alternative medicine is excellent and a much-needed antidote to the ubiquitous newspaper columns which tell you how selenium, avocado oil, echinacea, aromatherapy, colonic irrigation and all the rest of the phoney alternative treatments will make you well and keep you healthy, provided you have total faith and are willing to comply with the associated rituals.

I am tempted to say that it is a pity that many of the essays and articles with which the book is padded out, are of inferior quality. But on reflection, I think that is all to the good. Frivolous articles written by Diamond from one week to another, intended for momentary amusement only, gradually give way to his profound and moving articles on the subject of his cancer. It all makes you think about what sells newspapers and what's worth reading. Should you enrich your life with a jokey article about a boring hotel room, or a harrowing article about having your tongue removed? Crystal therapy or chemotherapy? By offering us logic and reason, Diamond may strike some readers as pessimistic and negative. For those who want to know the truth, however painful, his book is a valuable tonic. By the end of his life, when his tongue had been removed, Diamond had at last truly found his voice and he had something important to say.

poignant but padded
Having just read those terse words on page 82- 'let me explain' followed by the terminal silence, it is difficult to be critical. Only 10 pages earlier the author had admitted it would be a miracle if he were to finish the book, and one is often given pause for thought as to what motivated him to struggle on as the hooded gentleman with the scythe hove into view from the middle distance.
Diamond showed huge moral courage in rejecting the solace given by comfortable lies, the 'credo consolans' upon which outmoded therapies and equally outmoded alternatives to rationality thrive. His final broadside against the various hucksters, quacks and fools that peddle their snake oils to the vulnerable is cut off in mid flow, but nevertheless makes many telling and unanswerable points. He was maybe half way through an onslaught which may have saved his fellow man much unnecessary suffering, but now we must await the next great populariser to pick up the baton and show defiance in the face of the inevitable. Otherwise the public distrust of scientists in general and doctors in particular will allow the alternativists to continue their pernicious trade indefinitely.
Unfortunately, the publishers have filled a further 200 pages with articles generally unrelated to the central thesis of the book rather than, say, commissioning fresh material from other rational opponents of quackery, bringing the whole squalid truth into public view. Now that would have been a fitting epitaph to a remarkable life.

Read this especially if you work in the Health Service
I am so pleased I read this book. I work in audit and research in the Health Service and I found that I have been asked to an awful lot of 'complementary medicine' groups in recent years, attended and run mainly by apparently orthodox nurses. I was beginning to worry that I was old-fashioned in demanding some sort of evidence base for these so-called 'alternative' therapies. John Diamond has brought me soundly back to earth to the extent that I felt angry today to note that our hospital library devotes more shelf space to homeopathy and other 'alternative' practices than it does to child abuse. Some mistake, surely, and I will not go along with this any more!

Meantime John Diamond acknowledges the common sense that a massage and nice smells may well help you to feel better but these are not healing or curative per se.

I do feel that tis book should not have included pieces of work on subjects other than complementary medicine and his cancer. On the other hand, his writing is such a delight that I can hardly be sorry - his story of the Yiddish computer repairer, for example, was excellent!