To the editor:

In Bruno J. Strasser's review1 of my book Mavericks of Medicine, it appears that Strasser is doing the very thing that he is accusing me of doing—not presenting a scientifically objective viewpoint.

Strasser criticizes me for not including references that support the medical claims made by the controversial researchers that I interviewed, although references are rarely given in interview collections that are primarily intended for a lay audience, and part of the intention of my book was to use scientifically informed speculation about the future as a way to help provoke creative thought.

Strasser also criticizes some of my interviewees as having “blind faith in wonder pills” and for being associated with web sites that sell these products and claim their health benefits. For example, Internet sites that host articles by biochemist Barry Sears about the benefits of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation and by neurochemist Joseph Knoll about a drug that he developed called deprenyl also sell omega-3 fatty acid supplements and deprenyl. Although these products are not the primary focus of my book, some of them are discussed, and they are generally being promoted by my interviewees not because of “blind faith” in the products, but because they are well-studied nutritional supplements, or drugs that have undergone clinical trials.

Sears' claim, for example, that omega-3 fatty acid supplements can have significant anti-inflammatory effects is supported by research2, and studies have also confirmed Knoll's assertion that the selective MAO-B inhibitor that he developed—deprenyl—can significantly improve cognitive performance in some individuals.3

If space allowed, I could verify virtually all of the assertions made by the interviewees in my collection. However, as my book points out, scientific evidence may be ignored by mainstream medicine if it doesn't easily fit into conventional paradigms. As a result, there is a commonly held belief that all of our mistakes about fringe science are historical, and that we're too sophisticated now to make those same mistakes today. In my book I explore the possibility that we may be repeating some of the same errors today that we've made throughout history.