offit defines alternative medicine as quackery when it involves unappreciated harm and replacement of conventional therapies that work, with alternative therapies that don't. his books and articles warn against expense and risk to health for recipients of alternative therapies. in 2013 offit wrote the book "do you believe in magic? – the sense and nonsense of alternative medicine." offit states that the purpose of the book "is to take a critical look at the field of alternative medicine – to separate fact from myth." and that "there's only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't."(p. 6) one of offit's concerns is the scare tactics he says proponents of alternative medicine will often use, in a 2010 podcast with the "point of inquiry" offit stated "it is very difficult to unscare people when you scare them."