Book of the Week - Beyond belief: how evidence shows what really works

Published Date: 03rd August 2026

This book tells the story of the evidence revolution—a worldwide movement that promotes evidence-based thinking—and shows how it can help us all, especially in an age of alternative facts.

For many years, most medical advice was based on doctors’ opinions and conventional wisdom, not solid science. Helen Pearson describes how evidence-based medicine swept the world in the 1990s—becoming the predominant form of medicine practiced today—and how the idea that evidence should guide decisions is quietly transforming a host of other fields as well. Do police patrols reduce crime? Do performance appraisals boost job performance? Do welfare programs help the poor? Do smaller classes aid learning? Do smartphones harm teenagers? At a time when science is under attack and questionable claims run rampant, Pearson underscores the importance of evidence in all facets of our lives, empowering each of us to sift fact from falsehood and misinformation from the truth.

If you would like to borrow this book, please login to our catalogue https://bit.ly/4yA7o9O to reserve it. If you don't yet have a barcode please email us library@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk and ask us to reserve it for you, if you let us know that you need a barcode we can email you an electronic one.

To search the NoW (North West Libraries) catalogue please go to https://now.koha-ptfs.co.uk/.