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graywacke's review
5.0
I wrote this 2014, and just came across it. It's one of favorite books. In my review there is a "things I learned" part that I think is very apt for today. So, sharing here on GR.
42. Being Wrong : Adventures in the Margin of Error (Audio) by Kathryn Schulz, read by Mia Barron (2010, 14 hours, 17 minutes, 420 pages in paper format, Read July 10-25)
I thought about my job the entire time I listened to this. Not sure that comes across as a compliment. It’s just that I’m wrong a lot. And this book has me thinking about that, about how often I am surprised when I discover, for sure, I was wrong, and about how valuable that is, how much I learn from it and get better at what I do because of it.
It’s long book, that covers a lot of topics and then goes on and on about them. So, it’s good thing I found so many topics interesting.
Things I learned:
That being wrong is a human problem. Animals and computers are never in state of awareness that they were wrong (probably arguable with animals). But humans are never in a state of knowing they are wrong, only that they were wrong. We always assume we are right about everything. Once we are aware we are wrong, we instantly know we are right that we were wrong, so maintain our permanent sense of rightness.
Our power of inductive reasoning. How we make vast conclusions on the tiniest amount of information. Typically we make our conclusion from the first bits of data, and then take the remaining data only with a sense of confirmation bias, looking for proof our initial conclusion was right. We need to do this to get through day-to-day life and it’s actually a very impressive thing. Computers can’t do inductive reasoning. But it’s also, naturally, error prone.
About the emotional disaster of transition - which is kind of like being in a state of wrongness. For example, if you have a strong belief and it is suddenly shown to be wrong, and you don't have another belief to replace it, you are left in difficult state. Belief is critical to our confidence that the world is as we think it is, even at the most basic lever. The transition state results in a loss of confidence.
About the mechanisms we use to avoid being proven wrong. How the less secure we feel about a belief, the more ardently we fight for it. And how some of us are so stubborn as to refuse to see the wrongness, including going through exaggerated states of denial of confabulation.
About confabulation - or making things up. How we all do it even when we think we are simply explaining what we are doing. How stubborn people tend to confabulate more.
On the separation in our minds between the parts that confabulate and the parts that fact check. We make stuff up first; it’s a critical part of our imagination. Then we fact check it second. Except that when we dream, we aren’t able to fact check. It’s the only time our imagination can run loose.
And so on.
Not a book for everyone, as it’s a bit long and very long winded. But it’s a great collection of interesting stuff. There is a lot here that might change how you view humanity.
42. Being Wrong : Adventures in the Margin of Error (Audio) by Kathryn Schulz, read by Mia Barron (2010, 14 hours, 17 minutes, 420 pages in paper format, Read July 10-25)
I thought about my job the entire time I listened to this. Not sure that comes across as a compliment. It’s just that I’m wrong a lot. And this book has me thinking about that, about how often I am surprised when I discover, for sure, I was wrong, and about how valuable that is, how much I learn from it and get better at what I do because of it.
It’s long book, that covers a lot of topics and then goes on and on about them. So, it’s good thing I found so many topics interesting.
Things I learned:
That being wrong is a human problem. Animals and computers are never in state of awareness that they were wrong (probably arguable with animals). But humans are never in a state of knowing they are wrong, only that they were wrong. We always assume we are right about everything. Once we are aware we are wrong, we instantly know we are right that we were wrong, so maintain our permanent sense of rightness.
Our power of inductive reasoning. How we make vast conclusions on the tiniest amount of information. Typically we make our conclusion from the first bits of data, and then take the remaining data only with a sense of confirmation bias, looking for proof our initial conclusion was right. We need to do this to get through day-to-day life and it’s actually a very impressive thing. Computers can’t do inductive reasoning. But it’s also, naturally, error prone.
About the emotional disaster of transition - which is kind of like being in a state of wrongness. For example, if you have a strong belief and it is suddenly shown to be wrong, and you don't have another belief to replace it, you are left in difficult state. Belief is critical to our confidence that the world is as we think it is, even at the most basic lever. The transition state results in a loss of confidence.
About the mechanisms we use to avoid being proven wrong. How the less secure we feel about a belief, the more ardently we fight for it. And how some of us are so stubborn as to refuse to see the wrongness, including going through exaggerated states of denial of confabulation.
About confabulation - or making things up. How we all do it even when we think we are simply explaining what we are doing. How stubborn people tend to confabulate more.
On the separation in our minds between the parts that confabulate and the parts that fact check. We make stuff up first; it’s a critical part of our imagination. Then we fact check it second. Except that when we dream, we aren’t able to fact check. It’s the only time our imagination can run loose.
And so on.
Not a book for everyone, as it’s a bit long and very long winded. But it’s a great collection of interesting stuff. There is a lot here that might change how you view humanity.
able28's review against another edition
4.0
This book was an interesting way of approaching a topic that I haven't explored much. I appreciated that Schulz considered being wrong from historical, anthropological, sociological, and psychological angles and that the book never veered into the self-help genre. In the areas where things started to get too dry for casual reading she brought it back with interesting examples and a slightly cheeky writing style. There was a little too much reliance on Shakespeare for my taste, but that's largely a matter of personal taste. I found the case studies she relied on sufficiently interesting to keep it moving. I'm glad that I read it.
sarahconnor89757's review against another edition
3.0
There are a great many historical anicdotes in this book. By the middle I was pretty much convinced that a great number of people throughout history have been wrong about a thing or two.
If this was my first introduction to the subject I would have liked the book more, so I can't be too hard. For one of my books I did research on the physiology of memory and so I was hoping for some new perspective on the subject. It's not the books fault I had high hopes.
If this was my first introduction to the subject I would have liked the book more, so I can't be too hard. For one of my books I did research on the physiology of memory and so I was hoping for some new perspective on the subject. It's not the books fault I had high hopes.
evolvemind's review against another edition
4.0
What does being wrong feel like?
If you want to understand your and others' innate and learned biases, Being Wrong is a must read. It's a red pill message.
Spoiler
Being wrong feels exactly like feeling right. I.e., when you're wrong, you feel you're right.If you want to understand your and others' innate and learned biases, Being Wrong is a must read. It's a red pill message.
late_stranger's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked the writing style of the book, so much so that I was 2/3rds of the way through before I realised that I didn't actually learn much from it, besides some interesting tidbits about developmental psychology and epistemology. I guess if we're being hardcore honest here I wanted it to be a little more self-helpy than it was - which is forgivable, if I had a strong sense of what it actually was.
jamieshell's review against another edition
5.0
Loved it! Kind of a similar feel to something like Blink. Really interesting stuff about how your memory and senses can fail you, and both sides of the coin of error. Super interesting read, great humor and literary allusions.
jereco1962's review against another edition
3.0
While I liked a lot about this book...mostly the examples given, it felt far too often as if the author was beating a dead horse (or milking a dry cow). I feel she made her points early on, so that by the time I'd finished the book, I felt as if I had read the same page over and over about 300 times... I'm glad I read it, mind you, and I agree that error is necessary if we are to learn (just as suffering is necessary for us to appreciate those times when we are NOT suffering), but an editor could have done this lady a great favor by trimming a good chunk of this padded book.
neolenka's review against another edition
50 stron za mną i poddaję się:( Jest to książka dla psychologów i filozofów. Jak dla mnie lanie wody.