The Life Project
The Extraordinary Story of Our Ordinary Lives
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- ¥1,200
発行者による作品情報
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 ORWELL PRIZE
The remarkable story of a unique series of studies that have touched the lives of almost everyone in Britain today
On 3rd March 1946 a survey began that is, today, the longest-running study of human development in the world, growing to encompass six generations of children, 150,000 individuals and some of the best-studied people on the planet. The simple act of observing human life has changed the way we are born, schooled, parent and die, irrevocably altering our understanding of inequality and health. This is the tale of these studies; the scientists who created and sustain them, the remarkable discoveries that have come from them. The envy of scientists around the world, they are one of Britain's best-kept secrets.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The first book from science journalist and Nature editor Pearson brings to life a particularly ambitious series of cohort studies, which draw conclusions from bulk data on large populations. Every 12 years since 1946, scientists have chosen one week and tracked the lives of all babies born in the U.K. during that week. Information about these babies has directly affected legislation on the creation of Britain's National Health Service, education reform, and adult literacy programs. Many facts that we now consider common sense (having a baby is expensive; smoking increases the risk of lung cancer; poor children are at an educational disadvantage compared to wealthy children) were first confirmed by cohort data. Pearson gamely traces the scientists' findings while painting mostly sympathetic portraits of both researchers and subjects. Her dogged enthusiasm for her chosen topic is so unflagging that it can occasionally be grating, but her sense of compassion and wonder shines through on every page.
