Is this book convincing / attractive to sceptics?

Use this forum to discuss the January 2019 Book of the month "Winning the War on Cancer" by Sylvie Beljanski
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becsimpson
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Re: Is this book convincing / attractive to sceptics?

Post by becsimpson »

I think a sceptic will always be a sceptic. A sceptic wouldn't read this book in the first place. They might pick it up out of interest at the title, but once they saw what it was about they'd scoff it off and put it down again. These types of books will only ever preach to the converted, or those desperate for any kind of help for themselves of a loved one.
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Post by Kajori Sheryl Paul »

The little that I read, leads me to believe that the author's claims are backed by some solid research. This may interest skeptics. However, I think it a boils down to having an open-mind.
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Post by Jamie_Pell »

While there is undoubtedly an abundance of scientific evidence offered in the book to confirm the treatments first suggested by the author's father, the overall structure of the book will do nothing in the way of convincing skeptics.

To begin with, while the author's description of her personal journey is entertaining, it ultimately only draw focus from the actual topic the book is supposed to be discussing. While her personal journey and the extracts are intimately connected, it felt the structure only used the scientific explanations to supplement the author's journey. If this book were to truly convince people, then only the evidence should be presented.

Furthermore, for any argument to be effective at defending their position it is essential to provide your response to the other sides claims. This book contained none. The author simply stated her side and gave no defense over her ideas when challenged by others in the medical field. The only mentions of disapproving members of the medical community were brief, and their opinion "bought" by pharmaceutical companies. If you are going to claim wide spread conspiracies, you need hard evidence. Paper trails, interviews, documents. None of this is provided by the author to substantiate her claims, and thus will never be taken seriously by skeptics.

For this book to have more impact on the greater medical community, it needs to be strictly about the science behind the extract. No conspiracy theories, no personal stories, just hard data and studies. As mentioned above, the book contains this evidence, however, the way the book is organized the evidence does little in the way of convincing skeptics.
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Post by raqstar1 »

I don't think it's the core of the book that will make or break whether or not a skeptic will read the book or not. If they are not inclined to hear alternative points of view, then they won't make it past the foreword and introduction. Those two parts are heavily negative toward the Western standards, much more so than the remainder of the book. So, sadly, I think it's a bit of a moot point.
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Post by Sweet Psamy »

It would appeal to the support for alternative medicine on a certain level.The cover page was average.
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Post by Alicia09 »

I personally couldn't care what opponents think, because Sylvie exposed plenty of major news stations that have attempted to run a smear campaign against natural remedies for cancer. Driven by money, pharmaceutical companies are highly threatened by natural remedies, because they cannot be patented. Since pharmaceutical companies are deeply tied to governments, they have the social and political power to influence news stations. News stations glorify toxic, synthetic drugs while mocking natural remedies. After reading this book, I am convinced that Sylvie did an excellent job of exposing this propaganda.
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Post by Nicholet Haumann »

I think that this book would be very informative. I have 3 friends who has walked a path with cancer. One of them is still in the process of recovery, one is a survivor of cancer and the other friend is still struggling.
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Post by Sunnyroyish »

A sceptic must explore everything. If something about this is wrong, we should check it and then leave a comment. In my opinion, a sceptic can definitely try this book.
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Post by C-Extra22 »

The cover serves to discourage opponents and the text is written in such a way as to encourage sceptics to re-think. This was perfectly done.
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Elizabeth Pass
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Post by Elizabeth Pass »

Reading about different opinions is always going to be more about the reader's personality than the book's efficacy. It might be a good idea to get more controversial information, but people seldom do.
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Post by Cecil Rhodes »

The author's work is crystal clear and propped by scientific facts making the book great.
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Post by Rafaella Michailidou »

I have personal experience with holistic science and it worked for me. People who chose to read books like this one should be more openminded. Moreover, should you chose to read a book like this one, means that you're kind of let down by medical science.
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Post by Mindi »

I definitely think natural methods need to be looked at in more cases than they are. I don't, however, think this will always work. The author definitely has very clear points toward the argument, though.
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Post by chelhack »

I have not read the whole book but I am not sure that I am convinced. I would like to know why if they are so dedicated to helping the people than why I have not heard about this product being offered to people.
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Post by Onyinye Excel »

The cover page is well justified and I think the book comes across as too radical especially in its presentation.
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