This week is Chiropractic awareness week. The intention being that we're all made aware of Chiropractic and how wonderful it is. This is, of course, actually an advertising promotion of Chiropractic by Chiropractors themselves.

They will be concentrating mainly on Chiropractic for back pain to bolster the image of Chiropractors as 'back doctors'. What they won't be promoting, however, is the fact that Chiropractic is actually a form of Alternative Medicine and that their practises are based upon unsound principles with very little or no evidence to support them.

Nor are they likely to focus upon the associated risk factors with Chiropractic - some of which are particularly serious - such as the risk of stroke being induced by neck manipulation.

Some information on Chiropractic:

• UK-Skeptics overview of Chiropractic.
• EBM-First's links to Chiropractic articles and research.
• Dr Simon Singh - author, journalist and TV producer in The Guardian.
• Chiropractic's dirty secret: neck manipulation and strokes (Quackwatch).
• Chiropractic's elusive subluxation (Quackwatch) - a look at Chiropractic's fundamental premise: the subluxation.
• Chiropractic: stroke and spinal manipulation (Skeptic Report).

Chiropractic awareness week is something that should be encouraged. As potential clients, we all need to be fully aware of what Chiropractic actually is, and that means looking beyond the claims of Chiropractors themselves.

James Randi is visiting England this month (April 2008) and it has been announced that there will be "an evening with James Randi" event on 19^th April 2008 at Conway Hall, London (see: Map).

Scheduled speakers include:

• Prof. Richard Wiseman - Psychologist, University of Hertfordshire;
• Prof. Chris French - Psychologist, APRU, Goldsmiths, University of London;
• Dr Simon Singh - author, journalist and TV producer;
• Dr Ben Goldacre - award winning writer, broadcaster, and medical doctor;
• Dr Susan Blackmore - freelance writer, lecturer and broadcaster;
• James Randi - skeptic and magician.

Tickets cost £11.00 (standard), £5.50 (concessions: students & OAPs).
The booking fee is included in the price.

Time: Doors open at 6pm, close at 6:30pm.
Date: Saturday 19th April 2008.
Venue: Conway Hall, London WC1.

For further details and to book your tickets online, go to: http://skeptic.org.uk/randi/

Joy of Physics - Arthur W Wiggins

For those who have always wanted to discover the joy of physics, this is the book for you. Many people remember their struggles with the topic in school and have wished for the right opportunity to gain an appreciation of this significant area of knowledge. Here the chance to understand physics and also to do physics.

The book offers the general reader a fun-filled, entertaining and truly educational tour of this all-important science. It is an easy and practical way that connects the ideas of physics with the reality of the universe.

C S Lewis & the Search for Rational Religion - John Beversluis

C. S. Lewis was one of the most influential Christian apologists of the 20th century. An Oxford don and former atheist who converted to Christianity in 1931, he gained a wide following during the 1940s as the author of a number of popular apologetic books such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain in which he argued for the truth of Christianity. Today his reputation is greater than ever -- partly because of his books and partly because of the movie 'Shadowlands', starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.

In advocating Christianity, Lewis did not appeal to blind faith, but to reason. Convinced that Christianity is rationally defensible, he boldly declared: "I am not asking anyone to accept Christianity if his best reasoning tells him that the weight of the evidence is against it." But do Lewis's arguments survive critical scrutiny?

See: http://www.ukskeptics.com/reviewed_books.php