Useful Errors: From Copernicus to Potato Chips

by Derek Miller

Many people know that Columbus wouldn't have dared to sail across the Atlantic if he had been aware how far the way to Asia really is. But there exist a lot more errors which turned out to be useful. Great thinkers like Copernicus and Einstein, but also ordinary people made mistakes which changed our world in many ways. A collection of the most interesting and useful errors in history, science, kitchen and Errors – always negative?To err as a program? Trial and error What geniuses and rainworms have in commonMistakes? How delicious! – Potato crisps and cauliflowerThe great fried potatoes failureTofu, cheese, wine & Co.Cauliflower and beyondIn wine there is errorCopernicus a rounder rounding… and KeplerDiscovering America with AristotleEl the mirage of greedDreams, lies and SchliemannCreative misunderstandings in literatureKandinsky The right wrong viewOnly relatively right theory of relativityUnsuccessful, but still a the Michelson–Morley experimentA bit of theory on errorSloppiness saves the lives of millionsCan false prophecies be useful?Derek Miller has worked as a newspaper journalist on topics in science, culture and politics.

77 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 14, 2014