Leaving the Land of Woo by Bob Lloyd

Leaving the Land of Woo

Author: Bob Lloyd
ISBN: 978-84-613-5099-5
Publisher: Synogenes.com
Date First Published: 26/10/2009

The Land of Woo is a place where the laws of the known universe are suspended.

Energy forces unknown to physical science abound. Unseen supernatural beings influence the behaviour of mankind.

The human body functions in ways that contradict our entire understanding of biology.

Magical substances cure our ills and can even reverse the ageing process.

A far-off mythical place, from some work of fiction? Not at all. For many people, it is the here and now.

THE STORY of leaving the land of woo

The Land of Woo is that growing sector which relies on unfounded beliefs about how the world is, and how it works.

Why do we believe the marketing hype for anti-ageing creams, detox products and dietary supplements when the only 'evidence' that they work comes from research funded by the pharmaceutical companies who produce them?

Why do we hand over money to practitioners of alternative therapies, when clinical trials have failed time and again to produce results that are more than simply a placebo effect?

Why do we look to religious leaders for guidance on morality, when religion has been responsible for immeasurable suffering through wars and repression throughout the centuries?

In Leaving the Land of Woo, the author encourages readers to think rationally about such things.

Our natural inclination is to believe what we are told by people we trust; as children, we have to believe our parents when they tell us fire will burn us.

Some people carry this trust into adulthood and continue to believe what they are told - by friends, advertising campaigns, magazine articles, even kindly and attentive strangers who encourage them to talk about their problems.

Others, often labelled 'sceptics', require hard evidence that something works before they will accept its validity.

Consider these statements:

• Water freezes at around zero degrees. Fact. Whether we "believe" it or not, it does.
• Water retains a 'memory' of substances once dissolved in it, even when diluted so much that not a single molecule of the original substance remains. Belief (held by followers of homeopathy). Despite years of research no-one has ever found any evidence that this is the case.

By failing to distinguish between fact and belief, we are leaving ourselves open to exploitation.

The pedlars of Woo are clever, they know how to make their products and services sound plausible even to sceptics; a dash of pseudoscience here, a bit of Eastern mysticism there, a shared concern about the trend for conventional medicine to treat everything with pharmaceuticals.

This book gives us, in clearly-written non-technical language, some practical ways to tell when we are being conned. Scepticism is not a bad thing, It is a close relative of good old Common Sense.

Some people might find some of the ideas in this book offensive, as their long-held beliefs are challenged.

Others will wonder what is the harm in something if it makes you feel better. But the important thing is that we are able to make informed choices.

This is in fact the ultimate self-help book; by helping you to distinguish hard fact from cleverly-devised fiction, you will be better equipped to make your own decisions.

You may still choose to visit the Land of Woo from time to time; it can be a fun place. But instead of spending money on crystals, detox treatments and bottles of coloured water, you might decide that spending more time doing things you enjoy in the Real World is a better option all round ...

About the Author

Bob Lloyd has studied in four universities and has degrees in Biochemistry, Mathematics, and Computer Science.

After a long career in publishing, teaching, and software engineering, he is now retired and lives in a village in Cadiz Province with his wife and two cats.