Each year, millions of Americans seek alternative forms of treatment for chronic health problems. Indeed, many of us know someone who has had a seemingly miraculous cure from an alternative form of medicine. Yet even those who have experienced such relief often can’t explain it. In THE MAGIC FEATHER EFFECT: The Science of Alternative Medicine and the Surprising Power of Belief (Scribner; January 22, 2019), Melanie Warner, a former New York Times reporter and the acclaimed author of Pandora’s Lunchbox,brings both a critical eye and an open mind to her quest to understand some of the world's most popular alternative health treatments, the people who seek them, and the reasons so many of them feel cured.