From the elemental forces that drive our expanding universe to the delicate hairs on the back of your neck, science offers talented writers the kind of scope that other subjects simply can’t match. This dynamic genre of Australian writing has never, until now, been showcased in an anthology. With a foreword by Nobel Prize winner Peter Doherty, The Best Australian Science Writing 2011 is a landmark book. Showcasing selections from the work of renowned communicators such as Tim Flannery, Germaine Greer, Anna Funder and Paul Davies, this book is an inspiring exploration of the most exciting, elegant, powerful, and important writing about science and nature published in Australia and by Australians.

One of the unifying principles of 'alternative medicine' is the horror of chemicals. Not things, of course, like ricin and botulism toxin which are natural and therefore not chemicals, or cyanide which is not a chemical when it come from apricot seeds. The only problem with the chemical-free vacuum of space is the radiation.

I don't know that I agree that chiroquactory was the greatest hoax of the 20th century (a couple of political -isms fooled a lot of people), but it certainly is right up there in hoaxland if you are talking about medical care. While medicine transformed itself through scientific advances this form of witchcraft stayed mired in ancient vitalism, with its pretend doctors, its nonsense about 'vertebral subluxations' and its denial of facts known to every schoolchild.

This is a hilarious expose of one of the silliest (and most dangerous) combinations of religious nonsense and medical misconception. A classic that is still relevant after a century. (This is a downloadable free version of the book, courtesy of Project Gutenberg.)

It's bad enough that the quacks want to treat humans with voodoo and magic, but some of them want to start work on animals as well. I don't want to shake hands with the chiropractor who can move a racehorse's vertebrae with his thumbs!

A common tenet of both 'alternative medicine' and loony environmentalism is that you can't have too much of a good thing or too little of a bad thing. Of course, if you believe in homeopathy you would believe in anything, but in real life it is possible to have harmless concentrations of dangerous things.

It seems that every time you pick up the paper there is another horror story about some health threat from food, the environment, vaccines, or any number of other sources. This book looks at the things we have worried about needlessly.

It is bad enough that charlatans hawk untested medicines and techniques to sick people, but there seems to be something particularly evil about people who claim to have magic healing powers or who claim to be using powers delegated to them by God. At least some of the quack medicine salespeople believe in what they are doing.

Half the people in the world go to sleep hungry and what food they can get is inadequate and poor, yet people keep telling us that our food is dangerous and we should not do things that could produce safe, nutritious food for people who need it.

If someone takes your money or your life with a gun they can end up in prison. If they do it with magic potions or impossible electrical devices they get book contracts and web sites.

There would be little objection to chiropractors if they just concentrated on relieving musculoskeletal problems and stopped opposing vaccinations, denying the existence of germs, and claiming the mythical subluxation as a cause of all disease. This book is by one of the small group of chiropractors who are trying to get rid of the voodoo and replace it with science.

People in developed countries have the best, safest and most nutritious food options in the history of the world, but we are continually being told that we should return to some primitive time when we all gathered our own nuts and berries. So what if millions starve - food will be natural and chemical free.

John Diamond died on March 2nd, 2001. He was one of Britain's most prolific journalists, columnists and broadcasters, having worked for most of the national papers and presented numerous radio and television series. For seven years he wrote an immensely popular weekly column in The Times which, since his diagnosis with cancer, was given over to following that disease's progress.

At the time of his death, he 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, are both personal and poignant, hard hitting and controversial, tackling the issues raised by alternative medicine with total candour and his usual wit.

Including a selection of articles and his columns from The Times, the Jewish Chronicle and other publications, Snake Oil and Other Preoccupations, compiled and edited by Dominic Lawson, contains the best of John's writing.

Once upon a time, nurses used to read your temperature, straighten the sheets and give you medicine to make you better. Now they want to read your aura, straighten your human energy field and adjust your vibrations to make you feel better. Perhaps the claimed success of TT is because patients sign themselves out early just to get away from the voodoo.

It always seemed to befuddle the true believers of 'alternative' medicine that we supporters of real medicine respected Professor Tyler despite the fact that he researched and wrote about herbs. Either that, or they derided him for being a tool of the pharmaceutical companies. What they fail to see is that there is no resistance to the scientific study of herbs and herbal remedies. What we object to is the wild claims and miracle cures. Professor Tyler was a scientist, the quacks are not. It is that simple.