Being Wrong, Schulz. Non-fiction. This was a book club obligation, and it is perhaps the most interesting book club obligation I have so far incurred. It is not, though, an optimistic-making book, as the bottom line that I get from it is that we can’t trust our brains to make decisions based on evidence. I’ve observed this in myself: I’ll be looking at some diagnostic information to confirm my diagnosis, and I’ll see something and think ”That’s weird; I wouldn’t expect to see that unless [thing I’ve decided isn’t happening] were happening,’ when of course the thing I’ve already ruled out is the thing that’s actually happening. Having done that, I can all-too-easily imagine a surgeon saying “Weird; this says left leg, but we’re supposed to be taking off the right leg.”
Schulz makes a solid case that we need to expect error and manage it rather than fearing it or expecting to be able to eliminate it (though there are some areas, such as medicine, where it is necessary to protect against the consequences of any individual error, through such measures as checklists). If I were a better person, I’d look at journal articles and learn more about the topic.