Useful ... Proving what is 'obvious and simple' isn’t always easy. Kucharski offers the delightful example of Muriel Bristol, a scientist who always put the milk in her cup before pouring her tea, because she insisted it tasted better.
Takes the reader on a fascinating tour of the history of what has counted as proof ... Mr. Kucharski speaks from experience, since he was one of the experts first called upon by the British government for advice on the Covid-19 pandemic. He explains brilliantly the fragmentary and confusing nature of the data then available, and the provisional conclusions they led to. ... This book covers a lot of terrain, and Mr. Kucharski occasionally strains to draw links between the worlds of politics and science.
The book’s answer is do more of the same, but do it better, and, above all, acknowledge and communicate the uncertainties. This just might rebuild public trust in 'the evidence'. This seems both the right thing to do and, in today’s context, hopelessly inadequate.
