Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

The outstanding feature of Viral BS is its variety. Yasmin tackles questions from "Do the flat tummy detox teas touted by Instagram celebrities actually work?" (no, of course not) to "Did the US government infect people with syphilis and gonorrhea?" (yes, unfortunately).

Reading a chapter a day is a great way to broaden your horizons, and the many different topics covered ensure that it remains engaging. Viral BS is well worth a read.

Medical myths are something that I find incredibly fascinating and this read did not disappoint! I love the depth and breadth of the topics covered. You can truly feel how well researched this book is and that's extremely important in today's society with the ease of which people are able to access false information.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as I thought I would. I just never warmed up to the author. It happens...

This is a very timely book. Now more then ever, we need to understand the difference between real science and myths. We are in the middle of Covid and it is essential that we understand why certain people would not want a vaccine or think it would work for their health. Stories about scientists using people for experiments does scare some for good reason. This is addressed here. Also, how Autism came to be believed to be believed b/c a doctor published a unscientific study. It has been shown repeatedly that vaccines do not cause Autism. Yet, many people decided to stop vaccinating their children. Vaccines had worked too well, so we never saw what some diseases can do.

The most important part of this book is that it tells current scientific information by a doctor. It is the best information at this current time. Scientific Information can change. Taking a Statin for your heart was addressed. It was thought to be very helpful, but might not stop someone from having heart disease. This does not mean the medical community is lying, it means that as time goes by, we learn more information.

I thought this book was a really interesting way to discuss so many stories we here and if there is any truth to them. Listening to people who know and study medicine is wise, not just going by intuition or a story from a friend of a friend. It can literally save your life to have the most current facts, I would recommend this book highly to all people to have a good relationship with their doctors and medical community. This was educational, but in a easy to read way.

Thank you NetGalley, Seema Yasmin for a copy of this book.

Decent book. A bit dry in sections. Made me think about what and why I believe. With health care such a hot button topic right now, it would be good for people to read this to improve their ability to think through options clearly.

Viral BS
Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them
Seema Yasmin
Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN: 9781421440408
272 pp. | 6 in x 9 in
2 line drawings
12 Jan 2021
**This is an ARC provided by NetGalley for book reviews.**

Summary:

A collection of articles about medical myths, propagation and genesis of misinformation, rampant pseudoscience, and dark episodes of unethical medical practices including human medical experimentations and false publications in reputed journals. The forty-six "debunking" articles have a journalistic vibe to them and comprise of historical facts, quotations from physicians, scientists, patients, and administrators involved in various cases. This book is quite relevant in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Detail Review:

The first few chapters of this book tell us about the gross misinformation regarding usage and safety of several over-the-counter drugs, food and dietary supplements, and some really bizarre cases of medical misconceptions such as placental pills (this is where I had a sinking feeling that the book is going to be a lot more shocking than I originally predicted). The section on the rise of Instagram influencers and their role in disseminating wrong information about health fads is seriously alarming. This only goes to show how many people around the world are exposed to false advertisements which are potentially harmful to them via social media. The pandemic surely brought forth the general disbelief and denial that prevails among a large section of the world's population about scientific truths. But when you read about the history of racial bias regarding blood donation in the US it surely is an eye-opener. This book is a catalogue of how billion-dollar companies push their agenda towards consumers like us to buy pills, e-cigarettes, and seemingly healthy-sounding products like detox teas which have been found to contain harmful compounds in certain cases.

Dr Yasmin talks about her personal experiences when she researched about a whooping cough outbreak in Arizona in 2011. I was as flabbergasted as she was when she realized how deeply entrenched anti-vaccine sentiment is in the US. Now that vaccines against the Sars-Cov2 have started rolling out we are beginning to see the blatant disregard for the vaccination procedures not just in the US but across the globe.
Written by someone who has worked in the field of epidemiology the book clears some unfamiliar concepts regarding how clinical trials are conducted. For example, the nocebo effect occurs when something doesn't have any health effects whatsoever but makes you ill simply because you believe it's bad for your health. This has been documented in the case of MSG or Ajinomoto used in Chinese cuisine where people actually got sick thinking MSG caused their illness whereas no study could prove it categorically.

Dr Yasmin explains the importance of scientific language used in clinical studies. When we read about a particular medical finding which was gathered from an observational study it means the scientists found only links or associations between the causal agent and the disease. Groups of people are observed for their habits and intake of medicines or food supplements which often consists of observational bias. Some of these observational studies are clumped together and called "meta-analysis". It only shows an association between a causative agent and a particular disease based on observational data collected from thousands of people. Again, meta-analyses suffer from personal bias as well. On the other hand, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are conducted by randomly assigning people to "placebo" or "treatment" groups where personal bias about the medicine is kept minimal. These are the highest standards in any clinical study. Many such RCTs have come in the media regarding our Covid vaccine studies. I think such a distinction between various methods of a clinical study should be discussed more so that the general audience is aware of the quality of evidence rather than jumping on conclusions about some quirky research finding which makes a juicy news flash.

The second half of the book deals with more serious diseases like Ebola and Zika and the doubts surrounding their long-term effects and routes the virus follow to infect people. An exception to all these medical chapters mentioned before is the one particular case where the author talks about the rampant fracking practices. It is a concern how academia is forced to publish fracking in a good light under the monetary influence and political pressure from the oil and gas industry. This is a sad truth but academia is not a pinnacle of unbiased truth as it likes to be. People run it and people can be swayed and manipulated by rich conglomerates and big-pharma in academia just as anywhere else.

Overall, the book has a lot to offer but its structure could have been a bit more classified. A division of the chapters into sections like diseases, cosmetics, medicines, dietary habits, occupational hazards would have been more convenient and accessible for the reader.

Who will love this book:

For someone with a long scientific training, some of the stories in this book come as a shock to me. The book is an excellent handbook to refer to if you are struggling to discuss concerns about any recent medical fact, infectious diseases, or misinformation regarding dietary habits or medicines. But I doubt whether the right audience will read this book. This book is meant to shatter misconceptions and unless a greater number of people read it and discuss it with one another the path to curbing misinformation is a long haul.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Viral BS is a book about medical myths and if they're true or not and why we fall for them. I didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped and expected a little more from it.
Dr Seema Yasmin explores numerous medical myths (many I'd never hear about before). First she explains what the myth question is such as Does talcum powder cause cancer, does birth control cause depression, is suicide catching, are GMOs safe? etc and then goes on to explain and present information about each myth, however many of the chapters end in inconclusive, debunked, dubious and also it depends on who you ask. These statements weren't what I was looking to read and I'm quite disappointed in these answers and the book title suggests to me they are all myths and the book will explain why.
This book would have been better if it included just how studies were carried out in detail and answers about these studies and if they are conclusive or inconclusive and information as to why.

I look books of fun facts and so I naturally loved this book! It has a lot of information in an easy to follow format.

To be completely accurate, this book explores more than just medical myths. Some entries are flawed medical studies. Others are misrepresented by the media, leading to the public misunderstanding an inconclusive result. That's probably the largest section: studies that researchers say warrant further study that are presented to the public as conclusive. Then there are the cases of irresponsible science that lead to cruel human experimentation and the bias that leads to people not getting the care or the information that they need. Many readers will find the facts presented in this book infuriating. It's a sign that, as far as medicine has come we still have a long way to go. That awareness alone makes this book well worth reading.

I laughed.

I cried.

I got so, so angry.

For those of us who are constantly fighting misinformation (and disinformation) on Twitter, Viral BS is a book full of nothing new. What it is, however, is a fresh way of talking about why people believe sometimes ridiculous things about science, medicine, and the complex and sometimes uncooperative biological machine that is the human body. Sometimes people have good reasons for distrusting doctors, like the Black communities who were harmed for decades by the Tuskegee experiments who might now find it difficult to place their health in the hands of that same medical establishment, and sometimes they don't, like the racism inherent in believing MSG is some powerfully harmful neurotoxin (spoilers: it's not, and it's in your bag of Doritos, asshole).

Broken up into bite-sized essays so that you can find easy spots to put the book down and assuage your grief and anger with snacks, Yasmin's writing is casual and friendly and easy to parse. It's also exact, offering facts, statistics, and rebuttals that enhance but don't overwhelm the narrative, even when the subject feels overwhelming. And there are moments of light and levity that are welcome, necessary, and well-executed.

Viral BS is truly a book for our times, simultaneously welcome and unwelcome, but wonderful and important all the same. Read it out loud the next time your antivaxxer aunt tries to call you on Facetime.

I really enjoyed this book and found myself discussing the chapters and sharing facts with friends and family. Always a sign of a captivating Read.

I enjoyed the style and felt even though there were lots of scientific facts it was easy to understand and read. Some chapters I did find myself skim reading as I wasn't so interested and I can see antivaxxers getting very het up as it is written from a very distinct point of view however I thought it was informative.

The cover is great and on a hardcopy will look brilliant too.

4 out of 5 stars. Thank you for giving me an arc.

Here's a volume that could easily be a part of a class on critical thinking. There is so much information out there and it's really easy to believe in it when we aren't paying attention to details. Yasmin covers many topics with humor and intelligent writing to help us understand some of the medical fallacies out there. This is not a book filled with in-depth writing but it is filled with relatively short sections on a variety of topics, from the anti-vax movement to detoxing and ebola.

I recommend this to anyone wanting to look at medical information with a critical eye. While it doesn't go into great detail, there's enough to capture attention and to perhaps to seek further information .

I give this 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and John Hopkins University Press for sharing an advanced reader copy.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review from #Netgalley.

This is a great read for anyone who is endlessly frustrated by the continuous social media scroll of the medical memes and claims your great-aunt constantly posts on Facebook. Author, Seema Yasmin, goes through many of the popular (non-Covid related) dubious medical claims found online and daytime TV and explains not only why they are not accurate, but where these false beliefs may stem from.

The topics are varied, thoroughly researched, and well-sourced so if you need to confirm the information you are able to do so yourself. The author takes great care to not ridicule or shame those who may be misled and explains some complex medical situations in terms that are fairly understandable for the average reader.

THIS IS SUCH A NECESSARY BOOK! I love the internet for so many reasons, but sometimes I wonder if it's worth it. I wish I could press a copy of this book into everyone's hands to remind them to take everything they read on the internet with a grain of salt, and to listen to trusted resources and not conspiracy theorists.

Given my background, there is nothing particularly new in this book, but I read it with particular pleasure and interest.
Pleasure because of the quality of the writing, that of a good scientific popularizer who knows what he is talking about and does it in the best possible way (it is not always easy); interest because it is increasingly difficult for me to understand how it is that new outlandish theories are always appearing in the world, and old ones are hardly disappearing when, in my years as a chemistry student, I used to tell myself with satisfaction that the world was progressing. The problem, as the author herself makes clear, is that those who know, continue to know, those who do not know, refuse to learn. On the contrary, they refuse with ever greater force to be dissuaded from their convictions. So, it is people like me who read Seema Yasmin's book, not those we think might learn something from it.

The title of this book is catchy and interesting, and its premise is just as interesting. I went into reading this because I was curious as to what topics would be covered, and what type of information would be given to combat the myths.
As catchy as the title is, it is also a bit deceptive. Not all topics discussed why we, as a society, believe that particular myth that we do about science and medicine. Instead, she gave the studies where her research came from that explained the phenomenon being talked about. I am not saying that I did not get great information, because I did. I just think that the title is not as on point as it should be.
The biggest thing that I walked away with from Yasmin's book, is the knowledge and the reminder to look at multiple sources before forming my opinion. Medical studies are intensely varied across countries and cultures. Some studies are paid for with the intention of getting the results that the financial backer wants to have, even if it isn't truthful.
As the United States is beginning its recovery from a presidential administration filled with lies and a strong anti-science stance, I feel that this book is a much-needed asset to our nation.

This may be just me, but when I can't connect with the writing style of the author, I can't enjoy the content that much. I expected this book to be fun and enjoyable to read based on the description, however, I loathed every turn of the page and I kept asking when is this going to end. I liked the idea of this book, though, the execution isn't just for me.

Excellent science writing

I enjoyed this book. Dr. Seema Yasmin is a good story-teller and her writing is compelling. At times, her sense of humor shows through. The book consists of short chapters on various medical topics and I fell into the trap of, “I’ll just read one more” where one more became two more, etc. This book is well worth the read.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary advance reader copy of this book via Netgalley for review purposes.

Dr. Seema Yasmin is an MD, epidemiologist, and former disease detective with the Centers for Disease Control (cool job alert) who works in health journalism, doing what NHS doctor Ben Goldacre has implored other doctors and scientists to do: “translating” dense medical studies and scientific data so that the general public can more easily understand them.

This serves such an important purpose, since Instagram wellness influencers and woo peddlers have a much easier time of distilling information and making it easily palatable, whereas most people don’t have the ability or training to sift through medical data and studies to extract what’s important.

In Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them, Dr. Yasmin analyzes 46 myths, stories, conspiracy theories, bits of misinformation or misinterpreted data, pseudoscience beliefs, wellness woo, and outright falsehoods to explain what’s actually relevant for health, patient empowerment, and what important areas accurate data can elucidate. I’m always in support of this topic, and I liked that Yasmin focuses on popular, highly visible topics that grab a lot of headlines or attention in social media posts. Her reasoning was interesting as well: during her work as a disease detective tracking epidemics, she “was confronted with strange pathogens and stranger human behaviors and beliefs.” We’ve seen this strange behavior more than ever this past year, but it’s hardly new.

Among the topics covered are ebola, the fascinating-but-horrifying history behind the dangerous anti-vaxxer movement and its origins, chemtrails, placenta eating, magical-seeming supplements, the misguided concept of detoxing, and flat tummy teas. The most interesting to me were questions around social phenomena such as whether suicide is contagious (actually a lot of interesting if alarming information about suicide here) and differences in treatment and patient outcomes by female and male doctors.

I did have a couple of issues, namely that the author sometimes seems to cherry-pick studies, or else doesn’t flesh out why the information she’s selecting from the relevant studies is more broadly applicable. I say “seems to” because each chapter is fairly short, meaning that most of this isn’t explored in-depth. Rather, she follows the format of laying out the myth and its origins, debunking it, and explaining something around the dangers of the misinformation or cultural context in which it proliferated. Sadly, too often this has to do with an understandable mistrust that’s arisen from long-seated racism and historical mistreatment of people of color and economically weakened communities.

I also think a large part, though not all, of this spread of misinformation is due to the lack of access many Americans have to affordable healthcare, and I would’ve liked to see that addressed in some capacity. It’s part of why I’m so interested in the topic — for many years my best access to health information was the free kind, and it’s easy to feel like you’re doing “research” but not always easy to distinguish if you’re using reputable sources or how those sources came to their conclusions. She includes a “bullshit detection kit” — a list of ways to determine the truthfulness of what you’re reading or hearing, that everyone can benefit from consulting.

And I think each myth was explored briefly in order to include more of them, which is commendable. There’s so much bullshit so readily available that we should take any opportunity to tackle as much of it as possible. But it suffers from a feeling of brushing too quickly past some of these, since the lie is often more memorable or deeply embedded in the cultural consciousness than the truth. I didn’t need convincing as I’m already in agreement with her, but I could see the more stubborn purveyors of said viral BS finding weak spots.

I also found some of the explanations a bit drily written, which again, I think can be attributed to brevity. Or that these were actually originally written as a newspaper column, which I suppose could explain the space constraints and straightforward tone. When she does include personal anecdotes, like from her work or childhood with Indian and Muslim family members holding cultural beliefs that show how certain influences are rooted, it was more memorable.

Because I’ll read anything I can find on the debunking topics and have been trying to educate myself better about medical myth, I’ve already encountered most of these in one form or text or another so I can’t be wildly enthusiastic about it for that alone. If you’re well versed in this information already you might feel like you’re reading too many of the same explanations as well. One chapter about the history of MSG and its demonization was something I was glad to have learned in Eight Flavors, for example, but that I hope others could benefit from learning about. So I still think this is a very important book, especially if you need a good starting point for accessible debunking, or as a reference to return to. If only books like this got as much attention as the social media posts that make debunking necessary in the first place.