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I hope you enjoy my online reviews and posts. These will always be free to read. 

But if you ever feel the urge to support my online work, you're very welcome to buy me a virtual coffee. You can do this using the button below, which will also be available at the bottom of each post. 

 (If you've already seen this from the Now Appearing blog, please excuse the repetition!)

Image from Unsplash by Nathan Dumlao. 

These articles will always be free - but if you'd like to support my online work, consider buying a virtual coffee or taking out a membership: 

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Beyond Belief - Helen Pearson *****

Apparently it comes as a surprise to many that medicine was not particularly scientific until the end of the twentieth century (to be honest, it's no surprise to me - we had a GP who used homeopathy in the 90s). Instead it was based on anecdotal guidance - the kind of thing that appeared to work. Evidence-based medicine has since improved the field, trying where possible to base decisions on evidence, ideally based on randomised controlled trials. The first part of Helen Pearson's book covers this well - though I think it's by far the least interesting part of what we discover. Instead what's truly fascinating is the rest of it, looking at a wide range of other fields where evidence was rarely properly used and that are only now starting to dip a toe in the water. These include social policy, policing, conservation, business and education. The main part of the book gives us examples of how bad these areas have been in terms of basing decisions on what's always been ...

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