Science has banished magic from medicine, but not from us humans. Eckart von Hirschhausen sets out to ease the conflict between conventional and alternative medicine. With a lot of humor, he demonstrates how everyone can make better decisions for their own health: Why do placebos work even when we don't believe in them? What power do positive and negative thoughts have? Why do we like to deceive ourselves? And if we have so many ways to influence the body with the mind - why do we do it so rarely?.