In college, Steve Luby bought a defunct 1973 Chevy Nova for $160, confident that he could get it running again as an amateur mechanic. He tried some simple fixes such as charging the battery and ruling out a problem with the electrical system before deciding that the issue must lie with the fuel system. He invested hours of time and money in this theory. After replacing the carburetor he suspected as the culprit, the car still would not start. For Luby, a philosophy student, this experience was an eye-opener.

“Unlike in my university classrooms, where in the face of a counterargument, I could double down and come up with more reasons to defend my view of the world, if I wanted my car to start, I needed to accept my unambiguous failure,” he reflects in his new book, Theories of Change in Global Health. “I needed a new hypothesis. I needed a new theory of change.”

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