This is good to know. I should jump into the book. I may have gotten the wrong impression from the summary -- the quotes that I shared. I think a scientific effort to look at the many practices that are currently in vogue is very much needed. So many are taken as gospel truths and lorded over people in the name of science-- but they really aren't supported by any rigorous science at all. If this book points that out, than I am all for it.
Especially if the book has more a system thinking approach. Many studies isolate one practice (pair programming, code reviews, etc..) and can show benefits, but they ignore the systems they function in. Apparently opposite approaches, supported by the right personalities and environments can often be equally effective. From your comment, it looks like there may be some analysis like that too.
I like reading about ESE (empircal/evidence-based software engineering) for precisely these reasons. For example, someone found that SOLID programming didn't offer much of a benefit to code readability.
Especially if the book has more a system thinking approach. Many studies isolate one practice (pair programming, code reviews, etc..) and can show benefits, but they ignore the systems they function in. Apparently opposite approaches, supported by the right personalities and environments can often be equally effective. From your comment, it looks like there may be some analysis like that too.