Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average

by Joseph T. Hallinan

We human beings have design flaws. Our eyes play tricks on us; our stories change in the retelling; and most of us are fairly sure we’re way above average. In Why We Make Mistakes, journalist Joseph T. Hallinan sets out to explore the science of human error—how we think, see, remember, and forget, and how this sets us up for wholly irresistible mistakes.

In his quest to understand our imperfections, Hallinan delves into psychology, neuroscience, and economics, with forays into aviation, consumer behavior, geography, football, stock picking, and more. He discovers that some of the same qualities that make us efficient also make us error prone. Why We Make Mistakes is enlivened by real-life stories--of weathermen whose predictions are uncannily accurate and a witness who sent an innocent man to jail--and offers valuable advice, such as how to remember where you’ve hidden something important. He explains why multitasking is a bad idea, why men make errors women don’t. This book will open your eyes to the reasons behind your mistakes and have you vowing to do better the next time.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Self Help, Business, Sociology, Personal Development

221 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Joe Hallinan is a writer based in Chicago. He has written for many of the world's leading publications, including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Sunday Times of London. His most recent book is Kidding Ourselves: The Hidden Power of Self-Deception (Crown, 2014).

His previous book, Why We Make Mistakes (Broadway Books, 2009), was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. It has sold more than 100,000 copies in the United States and has been translated into more than a dozen languages.

His first book, Going Up the River: Travels in a Prison Nation, was published in 2001 by Random House. The book, which is now in paperback, was named by The New York Times as one of the year's "Notable Books." The Los Angeles Times chose it as one of its "Best Books of the Year."

Joe was previously a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and before that was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Among his journalism awards is a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.

He has taught at a number of colleges and universities, and was most recently a visiting professor at Vanderbilt University. He has appeared on a variety of radio and television programs in the U.S. and abroad, including NPR's Fresh Air with Teri Gross, The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News, CBS News Sunday Morning and the popular Canadian radio program Definitely Not the Opera.

He lives in Chicago with his wife, Pam Taylor, and their children.

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever forgotten your pin number?
Have you gone upstairs to find something and forgotten what it was?
Have you been unable to find things in the stationary cupboard?
Do you recognise faces but cannot remember names?
Have you lost your Facebook password?
Are you allergic to instruction manuals or asking directions?

Then this is the book for you!

It's an absolutely fascinating and eye-opening account of what very inadequate creatures we are. Our fallibility and proneness to making mistakes is mind-boggling! Seriously, it is..... I had no idea of our general ineptitude until I read this book. I know I am a woolly-minded old lady, but I am not alone. The world is full of woolly-minded people, of both sexes and of all ages, and this book is full of unexpected and interesting facts about our strengths (small) and our limitations (huge).

It is also full of interesting facts about how we learn and retain information, and how to make the most of our creativity.

Herewith a tidbit... ideal for Goodreads types....

"The more we read (or see or hear, for that matter), the more we think we know. But, as has long been observed, that isn't necessarily so. Often what happens is that we don't grow more informed; we just grow more confident.

Summaries of information, for instance, often work as well as - and sometimes even better than - longer versions of the same material. In a series of experiments, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University compared five-thousand-word chapters from college textbooks with one-thousand-word summaries of those chapters. The textbooks varied in subject: Russian history, African geography, macroeconomics. But the subject made no difference; in all cases, the summaries worked better. When students were given the same amount of time with each - 20-30 minutes - they learned more from the summaries than they did from the chapters. This was true whether the students were tested twenty minutes after they read the material or one year later.

But deep down we don't want to believe this. We seem to have an innate desire to overload ourselves with information - whether it helps us or not".

This book is often wonderfully counter-intuitive, and thus keeps us pleasantly on our toes. I thought it was a fantastic read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I learned tons.

I will end with some rather copious notes for myself

1) Too err is human. When things go wrong the cause is overwhelmingly attributable to human error. Airplane crashes - 70%. Car wrecks - 90%. Workplace accidents - 90%.

2) Short term memory: This is very limited. We should therefore not try and remember more than about 5 unrelated items at one time. Many modern machines - like cars - require us to remember more. Their complexity causes accidents.

3) We *skim* when we look at most people. We look better at people who are most like ourselves, eg the same age and racial group.

4) We need to keep things in the same place, otherwise we have difficulty seeing them.
We are also only prepared to look for a short amount of time. After this we stop concentrating.

5) It is extremely hard for our brains to remember meaningless things, that is why mnemonics are popular.

6) The New York Times on line gets 1000 people a week contacting them re forgotten passwords.

7) A recent poll of 3,000 people found that one quarter of them couldn't remember their own phone number.

8) Our most noticeable feature is our hair. That is what we most notice about people.

9) In tests, when people drink wine in bottles which are labelled as expensive, they say it tastes better than the wine labelled as cheap. This is regardless of the quality of wine in the bottle.

10) We are very biased towards supporting our first impressions in all sorts of ways.

11) Regret: we feel far more responsible for our ACTIONS than we do about things that happen to us because we don't take action. Doing nothing is often regarded as less regrettable than doing something. (ADD FROM DAN ARIELY....) Research shows that in the short term, we tend to regret actions—in this case, buying a car—more than inactions. But in the long term, we’re more likely to regret the things we didn’t do. Psychologists suspect that this is because the consequences of inaction are uncertain and take much longer to make an impact.

12) Memories: we tend to reconstruct these in a positive, self-flattering way eg parents over-estimate the quality of their parenting. Gamblers remember wins rather than losses.

13) We think our faces are more physically attractive than they are. People presented with regular pix of themselves versus photoshopped pix - chose the photoshopped pix as more realistic.

14) We are affected profoundly by hindsight, and by how things turn out. Historians often give events an aura of inevitability where none is due.

15) We judge people we vote for much more on the basis of facial appearance than we think we do.

16) We deny we are biased. Even if the bias is huge and obvious, we deny it.

17) On average drug companies spend $8,000 per doctor per year to promote the use of their drugs. 84% of doctors think their colleagues are influenced by gifts from drug companies. Only 16% think that they themselves are influenced.

18) Even when advisors are open about a conflict of interest, we underestimate the degree to which they are influenced by their connections.

19) Multi-tasking in the sense of doing two or more things at once is a myth . Rather it just involves a rapid switching between activities, and this slows us down. The best people at multi-tasking = young females. The worst = elderly men.

20) Concentration: workplace studies have shown that if you are concentrating deeply, interruptions like the arrival of an email or a phone call are likely to distract you for up to 15 minutes. It takes that long to settle down and concentrate again.

21) The older you get the harder it becomes to screen out distractions. This starts at about the age of 40. It is therefore especially important that older people don't try and use cell phones whilst they drive for instance.

22) Context is important.

eg French music playing in a wine shop makes us buy French wine, German music playing makes us buy German wine.

23) Time frames and the choices we make: When the consequences of our decisions are far off we take bigger gambles.

eg When people were ordering films for Netflix they ordered popular ones to watch in the near future, and highbrow ones to watch in the more distant future.

eg When hungry, people order junk food. When not hungry they order more healthy food.

24) We skim over facts, paying much more attention to initial details.

eg Investors pay much more attention to news released at the beginning of the week than they do to news released at the end.

25) We remember things best when in the original context. This applies to emotions too. Events learned in one emotional state are best remembered when we are back in that state.

26) We simplify and we distort details in order to simplify the picture we have of things. We prune our memories to make things fit together coherently. We forget, de-emphasize or reinterpret.

27) Men tend to be much more sceptical about what they are hearing than women.

28) Men who drive too fast like to trade stocks a lot too, and in both instances it is men rather than women who do these things.

29) Men over-estimate their IQ, women tend to underestimate theirs.

30) Men are generally over-confident.

31) Women are much more risk-averse than men with financial issues, health and safety, recreation and ethics - but not with social issues.

32) Men tend to forget their mistakes, but women dwell on theirs.

33) Most of us are over confident about our self control .

eg we embark on diets or regimes at the gym that we will just drop out of. We also buy holiday homes that we hardly use.

The people who are exceptions to this are often people who are depressed, or people who are very bad at things....

eg a very bad dancer will seldom think he is a good dancer.

34) Business executives and other professionals are often grossly over-confident as to what they think they know about their field of business.

eg in one study, information from a test used to diagnose brain damage was given to a group of clinical psychologists and their secretaries. The psychologists' diagnoses were no better than their secretaries.

eg Researchers looked at financial advice and securities analysts -
In 1980 the analysts were wrong 30% of the time
In 1985 the analysts were wrong 52% of the time
In 1990 the analysts were wrong 65% of the time.

Interestingly analysts are very biased in one direction. About 95% of the time they recommend that investors buy or hold stocks. They very seldom recommend selling them.

35) What makes a real expert? Practice, practice, practice. This is far more important than innate ability or IQ. Plus the practice has to be broad ranging. You want to produce a large body of specialized knowledge, which then enables you to recognise patterns.

eg Grand master chess players often have about 30,000 hours of playing time behind them, versus good players, who have about 3,000 hours.

36) We don't like reading instructions, especially as nowadays they are often horribly long and complex. This causes problems and accidents. We much prefer to act than to read instructions.

37) We get very set in our ways, and are not prepared to do things differently.

38) We cannot rely on our memories - that is why airline pilots have checklists, and since 2004 doctors have to mark in pen the surgical sites on their patients' skin, so they don't cut in the wrong place.

39) We are very bad at predicting how we will feel in the future. We think the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but often this is not the case. We also just don't know how we will feel in the future.

eg Lots of people say if they were dying they would not want the discomfort of chemotherapy, they would rather die than have their lives prolonged a bit. But people who are dying do want chemotherapy - even if their lives are only going to be prolonged for a short while.

40) Shopping coupons: manufacturers like issuing these because most people forget to use them.

41) Gift tokens. Again, people don't use them!

eg In 2008, Limited Brands, owner of the Victoria's Secret chain of lingerie stores reported a quarterly pretax gain of $47.8 million from unused gift cards.

42) Hope can impede our ability to adapt. If you are stuck with something you learn to live with it, and the sooner you learn to live with it the happier you are. If on the other hand you think the situation might change, this can result in you being far less happy.

eg. Research with people given colostomy bags showed that those given permanent ones were happier than those fitted with bags that in the future could possibly be reversed.

43) We tend to notice things that are easily observable and give them too much importance.

eg a lot of people move to California because of the climate. Then they move back to where they have come from, because of other issues they find difficult in California. The weather was not as important as they thought.

44) We need to look for statistics not anecdotes or testimonials.

45) "“Nearly eighty years of research on answer changing shows that most answer changes are from wrong to right, and that most people who change their answers usually improve their test scores. One comprehensive review examined thirty-three studies of answer changing; in not one were test takers hurt, on average, by changing their answers. And yet, even after students are told of these results, they still tend to stick with their first answers. Investors, by the way, show the same tendencies when it comes to stocks. Even after learning that their reason for picking a stock might be wrong, they still tended to stick with their initial choice 70 percent of the time.”

46) We need to get enough sleep! We make an incredible number of errors when tired.

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NOTE: This book has a different titles in the States and in Britain....

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve spent the last three days reading parts of this book to whoever will listen or (perhaps more accurately) whoever is in earshot. This really is a wonderful book and I don’t think I can recommend it too highly, but let’s see.

If I read a book, as opposed to listen to an audio book, I tend to turn down the corners of pages that say something interesting – I decided early in this book to try not to over do this, as it became clear early on I would have to turn down virtually every page. This one is written by a journalist and the thing that makes this one such a good book is the fact that the writer knows something about writing many other people seem not to. Oddly, it is also the most important thing – don’t fill and never hold your punches. Do you want to tell a story? Then tell it, don’t fluff around. Start with your best line, go onto your second best line and just before you get down to a line that isn’t worth saying STOP.

He has also done lots and lots of research into how we make mistakes and why we make mistakes – much of that research is stuff I haven’t read before. Lots of it is also very interesting – like I said, interesting enough to stop me reading so I can have the pleasure of reading what I’ve just read to whoever is sitting beside me.

I was in two minds as I read this book, because he didn’t really draw many conclusions from the research he was presenting – the research was fascinating, but I thought I would like to see how this stuff all fits together and also thought this was part of his job, that he should be showing both how we make mistakes and how we can avoid making them in the future. That was going to be my main criticism of this book, but it turns out that at the end there was a chapter which he cleverly called Conclusion (and you’ll never guess…)

One of my favourite sections was on the differences between men and women – in which he has something somewhat more interesting to say than women are from Venus. My favourite part of this discussion was something I’ve known for a very long time, but have never really thought through properly – I’ve known for years that men tend to exaggerate about how wonderful they are and women tend to exaggerate about how wonderful the men in their lives are (I’ve always just thought this was an example of how ‘compatible’ the sexes are, but when you think of it it is a very strange thing). He points out that men tend to be over confident of their abilities and women tend to be under confident. That this difference affects how women engage with things like computer software, causing them to be less adventurous and less likely to tinker, and so therefore less likely to learn any of the tricks of the software they use is very interesting. There is a connection made here to how young boys are expected to explore and are allowed to go off further than young girls are (in fact, twice as far at age 8). This means young boys are more likely to have a good spatial sense early in life and be more likely to ‘wing it’.

I found so much of this book interesting. Particularly when it discusses how we actively avoid learning from our mistakes and why we do this. We live in a society that rewards those who over-estimate their abilities, that encourages us to take full credit for our achievements, but to find excuses and to blame chance for our failures. But spending time both admitting our failings and thinking about why we make mistakes is the only way we will ever hope to not repeat the same mistakes again. If there is one thing you will learn from this book it is how easy it is to get people to make the same mistakes over and over again.

Many of the conclusions reached in this book are similar to conclusions made in similar books – but the examples are mostly fresh and always illuminating. I particularly liked the discussion on the fact that when shown photographs of two candidates for an election (candidates that were standing in another part of the country and were unknown to the person viewing the photographs) and asked to judge (on the basis of a glance at the photos of the two candidates) who the person viewing the photos thought was the most competent, people overwhelmingly chose the person who then went on to win the election. That is, on the basis of a mere glance we pick the person who will win an election. Of course, this makes explaining John Howard’s election victories almost impossible (unless you go on to consider how racist Australians must be) but I think it is a fascinating test all the same.

Equally fascinating was the fact that giving people more information does not improve their ability to predict the future, but does greatly increasing their confidence in their predictions. That is, by making people more certain, although no more accurate in their assessments, having more information may actually cause more harm than good. An interesting thought now we are in the middle of the information age – you may want to Google that and read through the 2.7 million hits... or perhaps not.

There is lots of stuff in this book about doctors and medicine – it is remarkable that life expectancy has been going up for the last 100 years but if you needed proof that this is greatly due to improved sanitation and hygiene rather than medical science, then this book presents some interesting data on medical stuff ups that might disturb you. Medicinal procedures seem to be based on a belief that the doctor or surgeon is god and everyone else needs to bow before their wisdom and shut up – that this attitude is the cause of countless preventable deaths and injuries should be cause for both shame and action.

There is also a fascinating discussion on the nature of conflicts of interest and whether asking people who have an apparent conflict to declare it is really enough to counter the bad effects of such a conflict – the short answer is that it is no where near enough and in fact, only makes matters worse.

There is a move afoot to change the focus of occupational health and safety. This new view is that people are the main cause of accidents and therefore we need to focus on making people behave more safely to have safer workplaces. If people stuff up then they need to be punished and made to behave next time in ways that will ensure things are done properly, that is safely. This book clearly shows that this ‘new’ way of seeking to fix health and safety is doomed to fail. That people are human and will make mistakes and that the point is not to blame them for mistakes that are bound to happen, but rather to see if it is possible to make it difficult to do whatever it is that will bring about the mistake in the first place. Repeatedly, the lesson in this book is for us to learn from our mistakes – and learning isn’t simply about proportioning blame.

This is a thought provoking and beautifully written book – it is well worth your time to read.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

***NO SPOILERS***

Why We Make Mistakes is an eye-opening shocker that may leave its most arrogant, self-assured readers a bit...traumatized. Actually, only the humblest of readers will close this book with their reality still intact. Journalist Joseph Hallinan asserts that we’re not nearly as perceptive, observant, unbiased, intelligent, and, well, a whole host of flattering things that we fancy ourselves to be--and he does so very convincingly.

This is one of those “you just have to read it” books. Every chapter educates with examples that not only enlighten but stun, and sometimes very much upset. In an accessible, conversational style, Hallinan cites numerous studies and research throughout; each chapter is packed with them, and they’re fascinating to read in detail. One of the most straightforward studies he includes is a basic one concerning memory for surface details; researchers asked twenty people to draw from memory the front and back of a penny. Hallinan challenges the reader to do the same. His point is clear in an instant.

The book isn’t all this light, though, with fun little memory tests. Its main message is a sobering one. Much of Why We Make Mistakes concerns dangerous consequences, specifically large-scale devastation resulting from small--sometimes easily avoided--mistakes, inherent shortcomings, or just plain over-confidence. There’s much to mull over and much that’s unforgettable.

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where to start?! I don’t enjoy self-help books, so I was reluctant to try this. I am very, very glad I did. I want to begin by thanking the two Carolines that both told me how very good the book is. I think everyone should read it. I think you will be surprised by how much it contains, by how valuable its content is.

I am against self-help books because so very often they just do not REALLY help. We continue doing the same things we have always done. It is hard to change patterns. It is hard to change opinions. We are who we are. BUT there is so much in this book that I want people to open their eyes to, and to be made aware of. Reading this book helps you understand yourself and it brings attention to improvements that need to be made.

I can point out some advice given that particularly spoke to me – but there is so much information I cannot possibly mention all that should be remembered. And then I worry that if I mention one thing you will take that as an indication that that is the central thrust of the book, which is incorrect.

Still, here goes. People do not read instructions, and we should! Products should provide instructions that we can deal with, that aren’t so long that we just don’t have the energy to tackle them. So maybe you think you need not read them, the important parts will be explained to you by the people who have of course read them, for example the instructions for medical appliances will have been read by your doctor and your nurse. You can always ask them. Right? NO! Even those that you assume are adequately informed are not. I will give a personal experience. When I got my insulin pump I read the guide book from start to finish. I discovered that how the temporary basal rate is rounded off makes it totally impossible to use, if the amount of insulin taken is small. Now, you assume that the doctors know this. You assume that they have read that manual very carefully. My adviser told me my pump was used on the children’s wards where insulin quantities are small, so I need not worry; THEY used it, so of course I could too. After many discussions with the pump manufacturer I had finally shown them the truth of what I had claimed. You would think hospital personnel would know this, although maybe not in the adult ward where people take larger quantities of insulin. It was also being incorrectly used in the children’s wards. I am not trying to prove that I was right but rather to show that NOBODY reads instructions, and they contain valuable information. The book speaks of errors that are made in hospitals that could / should be corrected. People should read this book. We have to be informed so we can make proper decisions. Institutions have to be altered so fewer errors are made. Companies must package their products in a manner that reduces errors. There are many ways by which errors can be reduced, not just in health care but in aviation and cars too. We have to be informed of the dangers that exist. This book is important in this respect, and I had to give a personal example to show why.

The book gives examples so the lessons hit home. Scientific studies have been conducted that prove what is being stated. They are fully noted and documented. The extent to which we don’t see what is right smack before our eyes will surprise you. Our behavior will surprise you.

The book even talks about happiness, showing us maybe how we can become happier. All I can say is that many things are said that struck a chord within me. Here are a few points to consider:
-Little things matter.
-When a choice must be made, don’t forget to consider what can go wrong. Play the devil’s advocate, not always, but sometimes.
-Take the time to enjoy what is out there.
-Happiness and sleep combat errors.

I questioned some of the statements made. Averages and percentages are used to show how we behave. I wish that the variation in the figures had also been specified. To what extent do the averages vary? We are repeatedly told that we think we are smarter than we are, but then comes a chapter that shows how men and women differ in their behavior. Women less often overestimate themselves. I wish more of the experiments had been divided up into female and male components to see how they varied. Why are we told over and over again that “we” overestimate ourselves when it is in fact men that tend to do this?

I found this book extremely difficult to follow in the audiobook format. I had to rewind very many times. The narrator (Marc Cashman) spoke clearly, but too quickly. You need time to think, to absorb and evaluate the material. I have also been told that the paper book has charts and diagrams that aid comprehension. Even if the narration had been slower, the book’s content is more suitable in the paper format. You need space to think about your own behavior and to consider how you want to alter it. By being aware of the mistakes we make, we can more easily avoid them.

In summary I want to recommend this book for two reasons. One, it brings out in the open changes that must take place in public institutions and companies. There is an ongoing need for reform. Secondly it shows through examples how we individuals make mistakes. In so doing it helps us find ways to counteract and diminish the number of errors made.

[Trip · Rating 4 out of 5]

A survey of cognitive biases and other limitations of the human brain,
with references and bibliography. The conclusions:

* Take notes on your mistakes, so you can learn from them.

* Get a Devil's Advocate, even if you have to do it yourself.

* No, you aren't that good at multitasking. You really aren't.

* The plural of "anecdote" is not "data". The singular of "anecdote" is "advertising".

* Have someone without your habits check for mistakes.

* Get some sleep, damn it!

* Happy people are smarter.

* Bribery makes people more diligent, not more competent.

[Books Ring Mah Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Science light.

Quick, interesting examples of how we humans manage to goof up on everything from selecting credit cards (one can be swayed by a pretty face to take that high interest rate!) to cutting off the wrong leg in surgery. (Overconfidence is a bitch!)

The author explains mysteries of life, such as, "why did I give that stripper so much more for that lap dance this week?" answer: she's in that fertile cycle, where she appears more lovely (and maybe even smells better too!)

He also explains why multitasking is not always a good idea. Sure, walk and chew gum at the same time, but for the love of GOD DO NOT TEXT AND TRY TO DRIVE!!

In sum, we goof up because our brains are wired to do all sorts of things, things we do not fully understand or appreciate. We skim. (You are off the hook, Kim Doubleday!) We focus on the wrong things. We get set in our ways. We try to do it all. We get cocky.

One thing somewhat annyoing about the book: every few pages the author highlights what he feels is a major point in a little box. Ususally it is once sentence, taken verbatim from the text. Seems rather silly for such a short and easy to read book.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

This easy-to-read book, written by a journalist, summarizes a great many recent psychological studies revealing various deficiencies in people’s perceptions, memory, and judgment. Unfortunately, its analysis is shallow, it offers few suggestions for avoiding mistakes, and its logic is all too often flawed.

The Good:

1) Hallinan is familiar with many studies, which he describes in laymen’s terms and in a readable and concise manner. People need to know that we aren’t perfect: our memories are not recording devices; we don’t see everything that’s in front of us; we recall events in self-serving ways. Some interesting things I learned:

- People can’t truly multitask; instead our attention switches back and forth between different tasks. This harms our efficiency and is dangerous when driving.

- We don’t see as much as we think we do, and when interacting with people different from ourselves, often see types rather than individuals. In one small study, pedestrians were asked directions by strangers; their conversations were interrupted, during which time the stranger switched places with another person. Only half of the pedestrians noticed the change, and it went down to a third when the strangers dressed as construction workers.

- Our brains give up quickly when searching for something that’s usually not present. This is why radiologists and TSA screeners often miss what they’re looking for.

- The rates of medical error are horrifying. Always get a second opinion.

- Familiarity breeds oversight. Don’t just get a colleague to proofread an important paper; ask a family member who doesn’t work in the field.

2) It is comforting to know some of the mistakes we often make are normal, such as forgetting people’s names, or having no idea who someone is when you encounter them outside the usual context. It’s also normal to not remember exact details of things we see all the time; for instance, few participants were able to correctly place all the features on a penny.

3) Tips on avoiding mistakes (though the book contains so few that most of them are included in this review):

- If you have to memorize a stranger’s face (for instance, to identify in a lineup later), you will remember more by attempting to make judgments about the person’s character based on his/her physical features.

- We make fewer mistakes when happy, but it doesn’t take much. Watch funny YouTube videos before important tasks.

- Sleep.

- Avoid taking advice from people whose interests are in conflict with yours. Disclosing the bias doesn’t keep them honest – in fact, it may do the opposite, because once you’ve been warned, they feel less obligation toward you.

The Bad:

1) This book will have you think people misremember everything, lie constantly, and are all terrible at their jobs (especially in medicine). Along with more advice on avoiding mistakes – which surely warranted more than 10 pages at the end – by the time I finished I wanted to know how we ever get things right.

2) Because the book deals with many studies quite briefly, sometimes it raises more questions than answers. For instance, it posits that we make snap judgments about people’s competence based on their facial features – but doesn’t explain what features strike us as competent so that we can try to correct for it. In another section, Hallinan recounts a study showing that teams with black uniforms are viewed as more aggressive by referees than teams in white uniforms, and are penalized more often. And that is literally all we learn about color coding. What are our impressions of other colors? Which colors are best to wear in which situations? Hallinan isn’t telling.

3) Worst of all for a science book, Hallinan’s premises don’t always support his conclusions. For instance:

- To prove that our memory of conversations is flawed, he gives the example of a politician recorded on Nixon’s tapes, who subsequently (but before the release of the tapes) testified in detail about their conversations. Unsurprisingly, there were significant differences between the testimony and the actual recording. But Hallinan attributes it all to honest memory failure, without taking into account the desire of a political figure (and one on a national stage, no less) to make himself and his allies look good. This is especially odd when a later chapter discusses self-serving exaggerations. Hallinan also focuses on insignificant discrepancies: the politician remembers Nixon asking him to sit, but the tape doesn’t include that; perhaps they’re both right, because Nixon simply gestured to a chair?

- Arguing that “the grass is always greener” and that people focus on the wrong things, Hallinan gives an anecdote of a couple who moved to California for the weather, but disliked the culture and their neighborhood, and then moved back home. He supports this with the statistic that 2.2 million people leave California every year. Without any information on the reason for those moves (I’d hazard a guess that most, like any moves, are primarily motivated by work or family, rather than disenchantment with California), that statistic tells us nothing but that the U.S. is a highly mobile society.

- When asked how many opposite-sex sexual partners they’ve had, men report many more than women, which means someone’s not telling the truth. Hallinan considers it “clear” that people simply misremember in the direction society approves, rather than lie, on the grounds that men and women are equally likely to acknowledge having had oral or anal sex, and therefore must be telling the truth to their best of their ability. Given that the median numbers reported in the U.S. are four partners for women and seven for men – numbers that should be easily memorable – honest mistakes seem unlikely to be the best explanation. A more plausible one is that people feel more comfortable exaggerating (increasing or decreasing a number) than outright lying on a yes/no question, or that people feel less judged for the sex acts they’ve engaged in than for the number of partners they've had.

To wrap up, then: this book is a good introduction to recent studies on the fallacies of the human brain, but it isn’t without fallacies of its own, nor is it more than a surface-level compilation of studies by an interested journalist. I learned enough that it was worth my time, but I would be interested to read more on the topic from authors with a deeper knowledge of the material.

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the various books I've read on the quirks of human cognition and how they affect our lives, this is one of the most readable. Journalist Joseph Hallinan has a storyteller's ability to take some of the most interesting research on problems with how our brains process information and weave it into a very effective argument for why it's a really, really bad idea to try to text while driving.

Hallinan begins his book with a chapter titled "We Look But We Don't Always See," addressing how limitations in our visual processing circuitry cause us to fail to notice things that should be screamingly obvious. From there, he discusses such phenomenon as what's happening when that familiar person's name remains maddeningly on the tip of your tongue, why it's not a good idea to hide your valuables in strange places, how distant parts of our brains have already made up our minds long before we are even aware of it, the resistance men have to asking for directions, and why most people think San Diego is west of Reno.

Some of the mistakes Hallinan details are funny, but many are sincerely sobering. His discussion of the lives saved by the changes airline pilots have made to account for common human errors is inspiring, but the failure of the medical profession to widely implement similar systems is deeply disturbing.

Though most of the book is focused on research, Hallinan's last chapter strives to help you correct for your own tendency to make the kinds of common errors he describes by offering a list of practical suggestions. Some, like getting enough sleep and making checklists for important tasks, may seem obvious. Others, like combating the tendency towards overconfidence by forcing yourself to think about what might go wrong in a given situation, are less intuitive but no less valuable. Despite the fact that your brain is probably telling you that you would never make many of the mistakes described in this book, it's still not a bad idea to read it.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Behavioral Economics for Dummies" would be a suitable subtitle for this book. The author isn’t a researcher or expert on the topic, or even someone with a particular message, just a journalist looking for a book to write and a drawer full of antidotal tidbits related to behavioral economics. As a result, the book is a cursory survey of the field presented by way of somewhat amusing little stories. I felt like I was at the breakfast table listening to a spouse read off newspaper articles… “Here’s an interesting item….blah, blah, blah.” If I didn't know anything about BE, I might have been entertained and even intrigued. But I do and I wasn’t.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the same as this one (it just has a different title in some countries...)

Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average

More positive reviews can be found other the other title.

[Arminius · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how this book highlighted the important points in bold. I will list a lot of these. The first chapter talks about how we see things. For example, when a purse is snatched from a women, men tend to notice the thief other women tend to notice the purse. Right handed people tend to look right and turn right when lost. Left handed people tend to turn left.

Movies make lots of mistakes that people rarely notice. That is because a movie is never shot in order. It is shot over weeks or months and pieced together by an editor.

Our eyes have a high resolution of only an angle of two degrees. After that minuscule angle things get blurry. We do possess peripheral vision however peripheral vision is never clear.

We also tend to skim over things a lot as that works for us most of the time very well. The example used is when we pass a construction worker we don't look at their faces because we don't care who he is but do care what he is doing.

We also tend to see what we expect to see. The example is that when searching for s drink that was always placed in the same spot then suddenly moved. We might grab something similar to our intended drink thinking it was what we wanted.

We are also built to quit. An interesting story an how difficult it was for previously blinded individuals had cataracts removed giving them sight. However, it was so difficult for them to see that many of them quit.

There is also a somewhat scary fact in that when observers were studied that found that people have a quitting threshold when looking for something. The scary part is when medical screeners miss something because they gave up. One study found incredibly that radiologists missed up to 90% of tumors.

Also when comes to remembering it appears that meaning matters not details. That is why we can remember faces but very often forget the person's name. Another example is that it is easier to remember a person is a Baker than if his last name is Baker.

The one story I will tell is the one where former star football player Joe Theismann referred to the genius Norman Einstein when every one thought he meant the famous genius Albert. He was lambasted by the press but when investigated Theismann had a genius classmate named Norman Einstein that he recalled. This is attributed to the fact that people can recall part, but not all of past events.

When we try to remember people the first thing we look to is the person's hair.

Yet another fact is that most people who change their answers on a test improve their test scores.

If we are going to err at something we would rather err by not doing it rather than trying and failing.

Experiments on hindsight showed that people not only exaggerated past events but tend misremember what actually happened.

Context appears to be the most important thing to remembering something. The example presented is that when children were taken back to a Park they remembered far more about it than students who visited just once.

There is much more in this book. I like how he tries to offer solutions to our mistake tendencies.
First, he says think small. The tiniest change can have a big impact on people's behavior.
Second always consider what could go wrong when making a decision. Third, have a novice review work you have done. They notice things that experts miss. Third, sleep more. With fatigue people demonstrate a greater willingness to take risks. Finally, be happy. Happy people tend to be more creative problem solvers.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers some of the same behavioral economics territory considered in such recent books as Dan Ariely's "Predictably Irrational" (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/....), "Nudge" by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/....), and the Bronfman brothers' "Sway" (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...). There is also significant overlap with Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson's excellent "Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts".

Joseph T. Hallinan's background is in journalism, not science, so this book is primarily a synthesis of the work of others. Hallinan won a Pulitzer during his time as a writer for the Wall Street Journal, and "Why We Make Mistakes" provides ample confirmation that he has the necessary writing chops. I think he does a spectacular job of synthesizing results of the relevant research. He's an unobtrusive but authoritative guide, steering the reader through the material with admirable clarity and focus. He has a journalist's talent for providing just the information needed to get the point across, often within the framework of a funny or thought-provoking example.

Basically, Hallinan does what we hope any good nonfiction writer will do - he provides a comprehensive, coherent summary of a relatively extensive body of research, drawn from a wide variety of sources. He not only makes it accessible to the general reader; the wit and verve with which he pulls it off make the book a delight to read.

To me, the most striking part of the book was the discussion of the phenomenon of overconfidence and its consequences. Think of it as the Lake Wobegon effect - as Hallinan puts it, "we all walk around with the private conceit that we are above average, and in that conceit lies the seed of many mistakes". Some of these mistakes can be catastrophic - as for instance when the overweening confidence of a handful of self-anointed financial "masters of the universe" proceeds unchecked to the point of triggering a complete meltdown of the financial sector. (A fascinating recent New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell makes a strong case that those executives whose errors of judgement were most instrumental in bringing about the meltdown still refuse to acknowledge that they did, in fact, make mistakes).

The potential for catastrophe is greatest in situations involving systems with a high degree of technological complexity where the price of failure is high - flying a commercial airliner, for example, or performing emergency trauma surgery. Possibly one of the most chilling results reported in the book is the percentage of survey respondents who agreed with the statement:

"Even when fatigued, I perform effectively during critical times"

Only 26% of pilots agreed. Among surgeons, the agreement rate was 70%.

There's an episode of "Malcolm in the Middle" where the boy genius is being prepped for appendix surgery. When the surgeon leans over to make the incision, he finds the elaborate checklist Malcolm has carefully scrawled in magic marker all over his stomach. You have to think the kid was on to something. We know Atul Gawande would agree (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...).

Joseph T. Hallinan has written a fine book. I recommend it highly.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edit! Gotta tell you guys that Joeseph Hallinan is the nicest writer ever. I wrote and asked him about visual inspection errors, and he actually called me to tell about people doing research in that area I could get in contact with. THAT is above and beyond. How amazing is that?

**

Easy science read on why we make the kinds of mistakes we do. I thought it was excellently written, and the audiobook version was well done...though some of the 'try it yourself at home' quizzes don't translate as well. I looked at the paperback of the book, and I think it would be a better bet.

Some of the data I've heard elsewhere, like Malcolm Gladwell's 'Blink' or even National Geographic specials. But most of it was new, and well presented. Finally I have a theory that neatly explains why I'm so miserable at directions.

I wish there had been more time spent on how to avoid, or mitigate these kinds of mistakes. For instance, my company has jobs with a lot of visual inspection. Now I know more about why visual inspection isn't likely to catch rare errors...but I'm still not sure what I can do to change that.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was some really fascinating stuff in here, but it wasn't as in-depth or thought-provoking as other similar books I've read (like "How We Know What Isn't So"). It was still well-researched and fairly informative though, especially for being such a light read. You could breeze through it in a weekend, and get plenty out of it. There are also fun tidbits and experiments (like testing your memory of what a penny looks like), and overall it was a good balance of dry facts and well-crafted insight.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took this book along to a doctor's office thinking it might be interesting. It may be post operative displacement, but this is a book that makes my heart glad, tickles my brain and stimulates the production and release of endorphins almost as much as a good bicycle ride. There's not much new to someone (like me) who has done a bit of reading in the field of human error, but the book is so well written and neatly documented that, for me, it's a pure intellectual pleasure so far. The author illustrates points with engaging anecdotes balanced with crisp, clear discussion. I highly recommend it as an introduction on human error for popular consumption.

I recommend the book for anyone interested in psychology and human error.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting notions that are new to me. For example, strong vs weak signal (feedback). Phone's busy signal= strong feedback; future stock performance=weak feedback.

[Angie Boyter · Rating 4 out of 5]

4+ Be prepared to learn without having to work too hard!
This was a thoroughly enjoyable book! I know a lot about the subject covered, having read sources like Tversky and Kahneman and Slovik, but there were some interesting new insights and examples that had me laughing as often as saying, "Wow" (Both of them QUITE often!).
A few annoying features of his style dropped it down from a 5 to a 4, including an annoying habit of talking down to his reader by defining a LOT of terms anyone likely to read this book would know, like "debug".

[Dmitry · Rating 3 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath Russian one)

Перечитывая книгу, я бы оценил её точно так же, как когда читал в первый раз. Т.е. как правильно заметили другие читатели: эта книга - типичный сборник историй того, как люди ошибаются или, как нас обманывает наш собственный мозг. Именно к такому же мнению я пришёл и в первый раз, когда читал эту книгу. Да, это интересно, забавно, но тут нет какой-то глубокой теории, да и практической части, где говорилось бы о том, как избегать подобные ошибки в будущем, в книге как-то не сильно просматриваются. Ну, т.е. да, совет не читать e-mail или не писать СМС, когда ведёшь автомобиль, он здесь присутствует, как и несколько похожих, но вот комплексного подхода, увы, нет. Возможно, это и невозможно было в принципе, т.к. формат у книги, возможно, изначально не подразумевал этого. А что же касаемо плюсов? Обычно, такие книги меня не очень прельщают, но эта книга стала, так сказать, исключением (как и несколько других похожих). Мне понравилось, как книга написана, какие автор выбрал истории и эксперименты. И если мы будем рассматривать книгу не как отдельное произведение, а как дополнение к университетским учебникам по социальной психологии, то вот тогда книга набирает дополнительные баллы. Ибо, как я уже сказал, книга содержит только истории, примеры и поэтому если её соединить с теориями, которые содержаться в учебниках, то выйдет неплохое дополнение к нему, дополнение примерами. В принципе, именно так я рассматривал книгу и в первый раз и во второй.
Если говорить о содержании книги, то, как я уже сказал, книга содержит одни лишь истории того, как люди ошибались. К примеру, автор начинает с оптической иллюзии (обмана зрения), т.е. что человек в определённых ситуациях смотрит, но не видит, присутствует как бы некое слепое пятно. Далее идёт похожая тема, но в главной роли уже не зрение, а память. Т.е. почему память нас может подвести в момент, когда это просто невозможно себе представить, т.е. происходит как будто провал в памяти. Следующая тема довольно неоднозначная, но, как и первые две, появляется чуть ли не в каждой второй книге по психологии. Это ситуация, когда мужчины давали больше чаевых женщинам, находящимся на определённой менструальной стадии. Можно ли это отнести именно что к ошибкам? Честно сказать, я сомневаюсь. Так же сомневаюсь я и насчёт следующей очень похожей темы, где также фигурировали женщины, но которые были представлены в виде фотографий и касались, как я понял, рекламных буклетов которые предлагали кредит. То же популярная история, где привлекательные фотографии женщин набирали больше клиентов, чем те, где фотографий не было. Да, это интересно, но что-то меня беспокоит в этом эксперименте, т.е. чего-то не хватает. Плюс, я не помню, упоминал ли автор пол заёмщиков. Что я точно помню, так это то, что автор быстро съехал с темы (перейдя на очень замусоленную тему якорения в ценообразовании), когда написал, что данный эксперимент проводился только в Нигерии и больше нигде.
Мне было довольно интересно читать, когда автор взял довольно популярную тему «миф многозадачности». Автор описал её довольно ярко и подробно. Так что в следующий раз уж точно не захочется отвечать по телефону, когда за рулём или просто делать два дела одновременно, когда требуется внимание, как в первом, так и во втором (мультизадачность работает только тогда, когда действие происходит на автомате). И сюда же я бы так же добавил тему, которой заканчивается книга – ошибки по причине неудачного дизайна. Вот это относительно свежая и интересно написанная тема, в которой автор объясняет, что неудачный дизайн может стоить человеческих жизней, что компании должны подходить к разработке упаковки со всей серьёзностью, а не из серии «красиво же».
Тема психологии мужчин и женщин, несмотря на кажущуюся значимость и увлекательность, я нашёл довольно скучной. То ли у автор не особо получилось в целом с этой темой, то ли она подразумевает более глубокий и всесторонний взгляд, то ли автор предложил довольно спорные моменты (солдаты мужчины ошибаются, когда устраивают «дружеский огонь», а женщины, когда не стреляют во врага; мужчины не любят спрашивать «как пройти…», женщины же пользуются такой возможностью практически всегда).
И последнее. Уже ближе к концу книги автор зачем-то полез в логические загадки, включая описание популярной загадки со свечой и с коробком спичек. Вопрос: зачем? Честно сказать, я совершенно не нахожу, как это может быть связано с главной темой книги. Мне кажется, это добавлено в книгу в качестве увеличения объёма.

Rereading the book, I'd have rated the book the same as when I first read it. I.e. as other readers have correctly noticed: this book is a typical collection of stories about how people make mistakes or how we are deceived by our own brains. It is the same opinion that I came to the first time when I read this book. Yes, it's interesting, it's funny, but there is no deep theory or practical part about how to avoid such mistakes in the future. Well, yes, the advice not to read an e-mail or write a text when driving is present here, as well as some similar ones, but alas, there is no more complex one. Perhaps this was impossible in principle, because the format of the book, perhaps, initially did not imply it.
And what about the pros? Usually, I am not very attracted by such books, but this book has become, so to speak, an exception (as well as several other similar ones). I liked the way the book was written, the stories the author chose and the experiments. And if we consider the book not as a separate work, but as an addition to university textbooks on social psychology, then the book gains additional points. For, as I have already said, the book contains only stories, examples, and so if we combine it with the theories that are contained in the textbooks, we will get a good addition. This is how I considered the book for the first time and for the second time.
If we talk about the content of the book, then, as I said, the book contains only stories of how people made mistakes. For example, the author begins with an optical illusion (deception of vision), that is, that a person in certain situations looks, but does not see, there is a kind of blind spot. Then comes a similar theme, but the main role is no longer eyesight, but the memory. I.e. why memory can fail us at the moment when it is simply impossible to imagine, i.e. it happens as if a blackout in memory. The next topic is rather ambiguous, but, like the first two, appears almost in every second book on psychology. It is a situation when men gave more tips to women who are at a certain menstrual cycle. Can this be classified as a mistake? Honestly, I doubt it. I also have doubts about the next very similar topic, which also included women, but which was presented in the form of photographs and, I understand, was about advertising booklets that offered credit. The same popular story where attractive women's photos attracted more clients than those where there were no photos. Yes, that's interesting, but something is bothering me in this experiment, something is missing. Plus, I don't remember if the author mentioned the gender of borrowers. What I do remember for sure is that the author quickly moved off the subject when he wrote that this experiment was only conducted in Nigeria and nowhere else.
I was quite interested to read when the author took on the rather popular topic "myth of multitasking". The author described it quite vividly and in detail. So the next time you definitely won't want to answer the phone when you're driving or just do two things at once when you need attention in both cases (multitasking only works when the action is automatic). And here I would also add the topic with which the book ends - mistakes due to bad design. This is a relatively fresh and interestingly written topic, in which the author explains that a bad design can cost human lives, that companies should take packaging development seriously and not because it is just beautiful.
The theme of male and female psychology, despite its apparent importance and fascination, I found it rather boring. Either the author did not particularly successful as a whole with this topic, or it implies a deeper and more comprehensive view, or the author has proposed rather controversial points (soldiers men are wrong when they arrange "friendly fire", and women when they do not shoot the enemy; men do not like to ask " Please tell me how to get to...", women use this opportunity almost always).
One last thing. Already towards the end of the book, the author for some reason got into logical puzzles, including a description of a popular puzzle with a candle and a box of matches. The question: why? Frankly speaking, I do not find how it can be connected with the main theme of the book. I think it was added to the book as a volume increase.

[Lorin Kleinman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Human beings have an interesting dilemma. Sanity, I suspect, hinges to some degree on believing ourselves to be right more often than not, on believing that what we see is actually there, and that what we remember actually happened. Unfortunately, we are very often wrong, about almost everything. In Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average, Joseph T. Hallinan entertainingly plumbs the depths of our errors.

In a style familiar to readers of Freakonomics and Outliers, Hallinan gives a plethora of examples, from medicine to criminal justice to the military. We are never safe from mistakes, though this is due less to problems of intelligence and organization, and more to the inherent flaws of our approach to the world.

One facet of this approach is efficiency. For instance, if we are looking for something and conclude that it is unlikely to be there, we tend to stop looking. This has unfortunate implications for radiologists and airport screeners: in one 2002 study, TSA officers missed one in four guns. (Screeners have a literally one-in-a-million chance of seeing a gun.)

Equally, if we believe that we know what will be there, we don’t look very closely: we skim. Hallinan describes a misprint in a piece of music that had gone unnoticed for decades, and was not detected until an unskilled pianist played the piece. All other pianists had simply automatically substituted the correct note. This suggests, counterintuitively, that the best proof-readers may not be experts.

And we see what we expect to see. I once read of a study in which wine experts were given white wine that had been colored to make it appear to be red. Many of the experts failed to notice that it was red wine. I explained this to a delighted waiter at Cookshop once; I wonder if he ever tried it out on the sommelier.

The list of things that we get wrong goes on and on, often driven by just the sorts of devices that have advantages in other situations. We often have trouble drawing a penny from memory or reciting the national anthem (I failed the penny test, but recited the anthem without error), we are terrible at judging risk, and we tend heavily toward overconfidence–think, for instance, of the millions of unused gym memberships we pay for every year. We also think that we can multi-task. We can’t.

Fortunately, Hallinan does not regard these problems as unsolvable, and the last few chapters of the book describe ways in which we can attempt to overcome them. Forewarned is forearmed, at least some of the time.

Readers of Jonah Lehrer and Malcolm Gladwell will recognize both Hallinan’s style and a number of the examples he gives, but for anyone interested in the disjoint between what we believe and what is true–and how to tell the difference–this book provides a fascinating account.

[Ellanden · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting read. Here are the cliff notes: We don't see. When we actually do read, we only skim. Our memories are biased. "Hindsight is 20/20," it is actually a bad thing. We'd rather fail by inaction than action. Drs make a zillion mistakes (always get a 2nd opinion!). Feedback is a powerful way to shape human behavior...and not all for good. Warren Buffet learns from his mistakes (ie: buying Dexter Shoe Co.) - but most people don't. We don't become more informed over time - just over confident. And, overconfidence is really, really bad. Men aren't really lost OR afraid to ask for directions, they are more exploratory than women. They will, however, get more speeding tickets than women and are 3x as likely to be killed in a car crash. Navy pilots (97%) would accept questions/challenges from junior staff but only 55% of surgeons would. "Positive thinking" can be misleading. Oh yeah, people retain more reading a 20 pg summary than the 200 pg book (so you are welcome for this review).

Favorite quote: almost everyone is overconfident - except people who are depressed and they tend to be realists.

So how to combat all these biases, tendencies, and traits? Think small, be humble, troubleshoot honestly, slow down, and be happy.

[Bryan Lutley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn’t a terribly long read, and I wouldn’t tell anyone “you have to read this”, but it was certainly an interesting and useful one. The jist of the book is telling you all the different biases you have, all the things you don’t see right in front of you, why your memory is straight up unreliable, how we’re subconscious influenced (especially when it comes to purchases), and why we all tend to think more highly of ourselves and our abilities than we maybe ought to. Every point the author makes has multiple studies to go along with it.

The downside of the book is that other studies show that knowing you have a bias or are being influenced or any of these other things doesn’t really change the outcome. The main ways to correct these are: Don’t be overconfident, know that you make less mistakes when you’re well rested and when you’re happy, and to honestly review what caused you to make a mistake. We tend to attribute successes to our ourselves and explain away mistakes, so getting around that will help avoid future ones.

Overall, a bit of a depressing book but helpful nonetheless. My main takeaways will be being more gracious regarding other people’s mistakes and really analyzing what’s gone wrong when my own mistakes happen.

[Brian Saul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting summary of countless studies on reasons we goof up. Part way through, I was beginning to believe there's no way to avoid making mistakes. Later on, I was reminded that one could learn from one's own mistakes, but it's infinitely better to learn from OTHERS' mistakes. Except that we, generally, don't. The author's conclusions: One can expect to make _fewer_ mistakes, but it involves several skills and techniques such as thinking small. "The tiniest little change in circumstance can have big impacts on people's behavior." I guess that means, "Sweat the small stuff - and it's all small stuff". Not so encouraging. Here's a good conclusion he drew: "We often think we're being rational when we're being visceral, and vice versa. When a mistake does happen, we often end up blaming the wrong cause." Hmmm. Another:"Let a non-expert proofread". People outside the field often spot errors the experts miss because the latter are often too close to the subject. An important factor in avoiding errors: Get some sleep. "With increasing fatigue, people demonstrate a greater willingness to take risks." One example, "When medical residents reported working five marathon shifts in a single month, their risk of making a fatigue-related mistake that harmed a patient soared by 700%." Corollary lesson: Stay out of the hospital! Not surprisingly, relative happiness is a factor in avoiding errors. "Happy people tend to be more creative problem solvers. They also make decisions more quickly, with less back-and-forth." Interesting to note, also, is that incentives such as money don't necessarily increase production w/ fewer errors. "Financial incentives do not affect average performance." Which is to say, people given monetary rewards will tend to work _harder_, but not necessarily _smarter_ on a given task.
Lastly, the author states "...it's not where you live that makes you happy; it's how you use your time. Forgetting that may be the biggest mistake of all." This was truly a good read!

[MiMi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why We Make Mistakes is such an eye-opener.

Unlike most non-fiction book this one's language was easy and explains for people of all kinds not those specialized in the domain or something, besides it had some fun parts here and there,well and tragic ones too.

SO why we make mistakes: because we are dumb! ......kidding (that's the crude thought i had before reading this book)
We,humans are fallible creatures due to the presence of DIFFERENT hard-wired Biases and other reasons i was more than glad to know.

we make mistakes... because:
*we are overconfident
*we are blinded by first impressions
*we are tired ,obviously
*we are habit-slaves
*we are unhappy
*we look for meaning..............and the long teasing ,mesmerizing list goes on.

why you should read it :
to avoid making errors of course ....unless you enjoy them!

[Marcos Malumbres · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Currency of life is not money, it is time". Final conclusion by the author. A very good conclusion although I have to say it has nothing to do with the rest of the text.

Anyway, a book full of examples of why we fail and trying to give the helpful advice that focusing to small thinks ("think small") will make us better at not failing. Some of the examples were familiar to me probably from other books. Anyway, an helpful read with some interesting experiments and good advices. I like the fact that wine is actually better if we see expensive price labels. I mean "it is" actually better since our brain enjoys its tasting more than when accompanied by cheap price labels. (In this case we therefore don't do any real mistake?)

There are several books similar to his one. But this one is not a bad one..

[Duncan McLaren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather disappointing. Mainly a compilation of often sloppily described research by others; frequently asserting causality where the evidence only offers correlation; and often omitting so much that all that remains may as well be assertion. Easy to read, but ultimately poorly written.

[Troy Blackford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining look across a range of subjects and disciplines, all coordinating on how humankind makes various common mistakes. Entertaining synthesis of various topics.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting and well written book that stimulated many useful thoughts and insights for me. It may help people who are struggling to make decisions on many levels concerning the coronavirus and related issues like employment. This book was not written with the virus in mind, but it’s concepts can be very useful during this stressful time.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable and packed with examples, meaning that while I was never bored, there were times I wanted a lot more detail about sample size and methodology. Always read the original paper!

Hallinan reveals a bit of his own bias by assuming his readers are straight and have a stock portfolio. We're expected to be American too — I myself couldn't make head or tail of one section until I asked a coworker to explain the basics American football. On the other hand, Hallinan adequately explained how (female) strippers make their money.

[Dr. Tobias Christian Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Checklisten, in der Schlange links anstellen und und und...viele Tipps für ein gutes Leben.

[Razi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Halliman covers a lot of biases and limitations that are inherent to our human perception and judgment, then suggests ways to lessen or counter these natural tendencies.

If you're new to this subject, you will be amazed at how flawed human perception and thought really are. How people like you and me are by nature inattentive, easily-influenced, and overconfident.

For good books on the same subject matter, see 『You Are Not So Smart』and 『The Invisible Gorilla』.