A review by reasonpassion
Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz

5.0

If I'm ever in a position to determine curriculum for psychology and science classes (among others), I'd make this book required reading. Schulz breaks down rather complex philosophical and psychological issues to easily understood concepts with direct practical application. Further, she does this without removing the terminology, making it easy for people to continue studying long after they've finished this book. This is not a work of post-modern woowoo, where being wrong means no truth can ever be determined. Instead this is a nuanced understanding of our human lives, filled as they are with probabilistic knowledge rather than absolutist dogma, and where we can trust our minds to do what they do, create stories, not form perfect encyclopedic recall. Doing so allows Schulz to make a truly delightful and helpful contribution to our existence: that being wrong is not something to attack like some horrid beast but an inevitable aspect of our lives to embrace and seek always to see how our mental tendencies to error can be mitigated through understanding.