Rate this book

Wrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us And How To Know When Not To Trust Them (2010)

by David H. Freedman(Favorite Author)

3.54 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0316023787 (ISBN13: 9780316023788)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Little, Brown and Company

review 1: The title and chapter-length subtitle are enough to give you an idea of what this book is about. It's a treatise on how so-called experts can disagree with one another and give out advise that is less than advisable. David H. Freedman trots out examples of fraud, laziness, greed, pride, funding, poor research, and hasty conclusions to support his point. One is encouraged to be highly suspicious of research papers, television pundits and online reviews alike.I had mixed feelings while reading this. Learning to view expert opinion with suspicion is one of the basic lessons of critical thinking and skepticism, and these are lessons I'm already abundantly aware of. So, on one hand, what's the point? The entire time I was wondering what exactly Freedman proposed to fix these is... moresues. On the other hand, for people who aren't aware that expert advise should be suspect, this could be a helpful primer. Even in that case, however, this book might be misleading and leave someone paralyzed to a point where they don't know who or what to listen to. In the hands of a science denier, the book could simply serve as out-of context fuel to dismiss genuine evidence and expertise, and try to establish equivalency between all viewpoints.I kept waiting for Freedman to address the obvious point: the only reason he could say that these experts were wrong is because other experts/scientists came along and demonstrated exactly that. While he never fully addresses that point, Freedman does eventually give some advice about warning signs to watch out for, as well as the hallmarks of good advice.The best thing I can say about this book is that it goes quickly. Since the concepts are broad and the details of the examples aren't particularly important, one can breeze through this in a few days (at least, I did). Freedman might have re-ordered things to place the examples in context before he gives them, and not toward the end as he does. He could have easily had at least one appendix removed, as there are four of them. One is a list of contradictory quotes from various experts on specific issues. Another gives his personal recounting of the history of expertise, which is a brief history of human invention and the scientific method - which might be helpful to someone who is not familiar with the history of science (I'd sooner recommend Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, or James Burke's Connections, or the Neil de Grasse Tyson Cosmos series). The third is a collection of scientific fraud. The fourth appendix is an unnecessarily long-winded and self-indulgent answer to the flippant question, "Well what if THIS book is wrong?"I'll end with my favorite paragraph from the book, which I wish was more indicative of the work as a whole and should have come much sooner than half-way: "I truly don't mean to convince people that they should hold science in low regard, particularly compared to other types of expertise. I think scientists ARE our most trustworthy experts, and the basic methods of science are exactly the right way to approach the problems and mysteries that face us in the world. In short, when it comes to experts, scientists ought to be seen as perching at the top of the heap. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't have a good understanding of how modest a compliment it may be to say so." Hear, hear.
review 2: I gave this title three stars because, in my opinion, it fulfilled only half of its promise: Why experts keep failing us -- and how to know when not to trust them. It did a great job explaining why experts keep failing us, but when it comes to figuring out when not to trust them...well, the author doesn't have a clue either. The bottom line is, the odds of the "experts" being right are about the same as winning a crap shoot.This book is worth reading to the extent that most people actually believe that the "experts" are right most of the time. I once had a blog argument with a dreamer who chided me for daring to suggest that scientists taking government grant money would be bias toward the government's preconcieved conclusions. (Silly me!) Turns out, this happens a lot more than you think, according to Freedman's research. After two weeks of reading, however, I'm still pretty much on my own when it comes to figuring out what to believe and what not to believe... failed, yet again, by another "expert" claiming to know the answer! less

Download links for: Wrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us and How to Know When Not to Trust Them

Advertising