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To err is human – luckily for us

By Jo Marchant

8 September 2010

WHAT were you doing when you heard about the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001? Your memory of that moment may be vivid, but it is almost certainly wrong.

We are wrong about most things, most of the time – something we find easy to believe about others but are loathe to recognise in ourselves. Kathryn Schulz’s book covers every type of error, from trivial slips to great blunders. It could have been a tedious list, but turns out to be a compelling meditation on the human condition. By combining personal stories with research into learning and memory, Schulz exposes…

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