Staff review by Chris SalibaIn this engaging and wonderfully accessible book, former economics professor Andrew Leigh explains the world of random trials.
In 1747 a ship's surgeon named James Lind ran an early version of a randomised test. Scurvy had long been the scourge of sea travel; huge numbers of men died of it at sea. In order to try and discover the cause of the disease, Lind tested six different treatments on six pairs of sailors. One of the trialed medicines was oranges and lemons. The results soon showed what worked: the sailors taking citrus fruit showed remarkable improvements.
In this informative and entertaining look at the world of random trials, Labor MP and former economics professor Andrew Leigh takes the reader through many fascinating examples, from crime and politics to technology and business. A recurring theme of Randomistasis how often the assumptions of experts and top officials are wrong. When it comes to making important decisions, Leigh urges we should be sticking to the science. Our own instincts aren't particularly reliable.
Full of weird and wonderful stories of random trials that threw out unexpected results (we even learn that Sesame Street uses randomised trials to more effectively tailor its programming), Andrew Leigh's book will reset the way you think and make you look at the world in new ways.
Randomistas: How Radical Researchers Changed Our World, by Andrew Leigh. Published by La Trobe University Press. ISBN: 9781863959711 RRP $29.99
Release date 1st March, 2018
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