The rise of complementary and alternative therapies -- A brief history of placebos -- Natural impediments to making valid inferences -- Impediments that prevent physicians and therapists from making valid inferences -- Impediments that prevent poorly trained scientists from making valid inferences -- Why randomized placebo control groups are necessary in CAM research -- Judging the credibility and plausibility of scientific evidence -- Some personal research involving acupuncture -- How we know that the placebo effect exists -- A biochemical explanation for the placebo effect -- What high-quality trials reveal about CAM -- What high-quality systematic reviews reveal about CAM -- How CAM therapies are hypothesized to work -- Tying up a few loose ends.