A while ago I read this book, Being Wrong, of which the title is pretty self explanatory. I thought it would be a fun read, due to an NPR interview I heard with the author (Kathryn Shulz). What I did not expect was how much this book would influence my view of the world and the people in it, and how much I would end up underlining.
Although this might be an oversimplification, the book can pretty much be divided into 3 parts: Why we hate being wrong, what is is like to be wrong, and why we probably shouldn't hate it. All the parts are good, and I have really tried to remember it when having discussions with others, especially with disagreements.
One thing that really struck me was her point about why it is important that we can be wrong. She makes the point that if we did not constantly overestimate our own abilities, we wouldn't try (or succeed) at half of the things we do.
This might be the best nonfiction book I have ever read, which is kind of hard for me to say because of books like Born to Run and Yes Man (both of which everyone should also read).
So as a summary, I think this is a book that everyone should read to better understand people and themselves.
If its that good, I'll put into my rotation. Was it anything like Blink?
ReplyDeleteIt is a little different than Blink because I think it is more philosophical, but if you liked Blink I think you would really like this. The writing flows at least as well as Gladwell and the subject matter is great.
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