What have you been wrong about in your life?

[close] To err is human. So why do we despise being wrong? As Kathryn Schulz argues in this fascinating reconsideration of error, we do so because we are wrong, first and foremost, about what it means to be wrong. For centuries, we have regarded error as a sign of ignorance, idiocy, or sin. But in fact, Schulz contends, our capacity to err is a crucial component of human intelligence. It is inextricable from some of our best and most honorable qualities, including empathy, creativity, conviction, and optimism. Perhaps most important, making mistakes is a vital part of how we learn and change.

In this thoughtful, groundbreaking book, Schulz gives us both an intellectual history of error from the classical era to our own day, and new insight into the cognitive origins and emotional experience of being wrong. Drawing on Arctic misadventures and bizarre neurological ailments, failed prophecies and broken hearts, Alan Greenspan and Groucho Marx, Being Wrong recasts our mistakes as an inevitable, invaluable,