Could you elaborate a bit about his 'court tangle'? I'm reading 'Bad Science' which also talks about Homeopathy and it basically says homeopathy is relying on the Placebo effect, the attention patients receive and the probability a lot of people will resort to homeopathy when it's really, really bad. That's usually the point when it starts getting better. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Science_(book)

Apologies, his tangle was chiropractic not homeopathic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCA_v._Singh

My general point was two-fold:

1) he is an excellent popular science writer. He has a PhD in particle physics, and his books are well researched and well received.

2) we all want him to prosper from writing so he keeps writing :)

H_O_L_Y crap. Just read his column 'Beware The Spinal trap' in The Guardian about chiropractic therapy.

" if spinal manipulation were a drug with such serious adverse effects and so little demonstrable benefit, then it would almost certainly have been taken off the market."

I have had this done a lot of times. No one ever told me about any of the risks before starting the procedure. Thanks for the information. http://esciencenews.com/sources/the.guardian.science/2010/04...

He was sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association for writing in a newspaper column that they promoted "bogus treatments".

Edit: Too late. I'd second the book recommendations though, they're excellent.