Helen Pearson—Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works

Advance copy: Backstories on books by NASW members

Cover of the book _Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works_ by Helen Pearson showing a white background, with the main title and author’s name in large blue print, the subhead in smaller green print, and a series of arrows and lines similar to those found on scientific charts to connect cause and effect.
Beyond Belief
BEYOND BELIEF:
HOW EVIDENCE SHOWS WHAT REALLY WORKS
Helen Pearson
Princeton University Press, April 28, 2026,
Hardcover: $29.95, eBook: $29.95
Hardcover ISBN-13: 9780691207070
eBook ISBN-13: 9780691284187

Pearson reports:

In 1992, a group of rebel doctors published a radical idea. They argued that medicine should be based not on intuition and conventional wisdom, but on evidence from science, such as clinical trials showing whether a drug really works. Today, more and more people around the globe are using scientific evidence in health, government, business, conservation, schools, and parenting. Beyond Belief tells the story of this evidence revolution and shows how it can help us all, especially in an age of alternative facts.

Portrait photo of Helen Pearson
Helen Pearson
Photo by Alastair Fyfe
I first became interested in this story when I met and interviewed Iain Chalmers, a remarkable British doctor and researcher who was a pioneer in evidence-based medicine and a founder of the Cochrane Collaboration. I’d been a science journalist for years, but hadn’t known that the idea of using evidence in medicine was such a recent phenomenon. Soon I was interviewing people in fields I’d never reported on before, such as policing and management. I interviewed more than 200 people over more than five years. I loved learning about these different disciplines, but it was a vast amount of work.

Evidence can sound a bit dry, so I tried to bring all this to life by focusing on the personal stories of the mavericks and rebels who challenged conventional wisdom in their fields.

I already had an agent through my previous book, The Life Project. She helped find the right home for this one: a trade book with Princeton University Press. I’d already learned that trying to write a book while working a big, full-time job is the route to misery. For this book, I took care to set up a work schedule that would allow me time to write. This involved working half time at Nature and an additional teaching role with University College London.

In retrospect, I wish I had done more of my reporting upstream and so written a more compelling proposal. I feel the book is deeper, different—and hopefully better!—than the one I originally proposed.

Contact info:

NASW members: Will your book be published soon? Promote it by submitting your report for Advance Copy.

Tell your fellow NASW members how you came up with the idea for your book, developed a proposal, found an agent and publisher, funded and conducted research, and put the book together. Include what you wish you had known before you began working on your book or what you might have done differently.

See https://www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines. NASW member login required.

View Advance Copy archives at https://www.nasw.org/member-article/advance-copy.

Thinking of writing a book? If you are a NASW member, you may access a list of more than 200 books and online resources to help you craft your book proposal, find an agent and funding sources, negotiate your contract, learn about self-publishing, publicize and market your book, and more at https://www.nasw.org/article/write-book.

View the recording of an Advance Copy Virtual Business Chat, A Primer for Authors on Book Publicity. NASW member login required.

View the recording of a Virtual Business Chat presented by NASW’s Freelance Committee and Advance Copy column Writing Wikipedia Profiles. NASW member login required.

View the recording of a recent Virtual Skills Chat presented by NASW’s Editing Committee How to Break into Editing. NASW member login required.

View the recording of a recent Virtual Skills Chat presented by NASW’s Freelance Committee Using Generative A.I. as Writers and Editors. NASW member login required.

View the recording of a recent Virtual Skills Chat presented by NASW’s Freelance Committee The Existential Challenges of Self-Promotion. NASW member login required.

Send book info and questions about book publishing to Lynne Lamberg, NASW book editor, llamberg@nasw.org.

Follow @lynnelamberg.bsky.social and @LynneLamberg for news about NASW authors, science/medical books, and writing.

Banner image adapted from original photo by Helen Pearson.

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Advance Copy

The path from idea to book may take myriad routes. The Advance Copy column, started in 2000 by NASW volunteer book editor Lynne Lamberg, features NASW authors telling the stories behind their books. Authors are asked to report how they got their idea, honed it into a proposal, found an agent and a publisher, funded and conducted their research, and organized their writing process. They also are asked to share what they wish they’d known when they started or would do differently next time, and what advice they can offer aspiring authors. Lamberg edits the authors’ answers to produce the Advance Copy reports.

NASW members: Will your book be published soon? Visit www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines for information on submitting your report.

Publication of NASW author reports in Advance Copy does not constitute NASW's endorsement of any publication or the ideas, values, or material contained within or espoused by authors or their books. We hope this column stimulates productive discussions on important topics now and in the future as both science and societies progress. We welcome your discussion in the comments section below.

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