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Being Wrong
Book

Being Wrong

Adventures in the Margin of Error

Ecco, 2010 plus...


Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Background
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Malcolm Gladwell opened the book market to accessible, highbrow social analysis, and Kathryn Schulz has skillfully adopted that model. However, unlike Gladwell, Schulz does not analyze trends. She’s fascinated by the perpetual, universal propensity for human error in all its forms and contexts. In this companionable, readable, kind-hearted, rambling (and sometimes random) essay collection, she discusses philosophy, astronomy, politics, psychiatry, love and heartbreak, as well as the science of the brain and the workings of memory. She demonstrates a credible grasp of her topics and bends each to her theme without losing sight of the larger picture. This is not a self-help book, but still it offers opportunities for insight, laughter and the rueful recognition that when humans err, they seldom err alone. getAbstract recommends this worthy book to anyone who’s ever made a mistake, and especially to those who are convinced they never have.

Take-Aways

  • Mistakes enable people to understand their world and themselves better.
  • People seldom perceive the limits of their own knowledge. They love to be right and to think they are right.
  • Human beings always theorize, and their theories should be reality-tested. The big question is if people are willing to change their theories once they know they’re wrong.

About the Author

Kathryn Schulz has written for The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone and The Nation.


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