Wrong: Why Experts* Keep Failing Us--And How to Know When Not to Trust Them *Scientists, Finance Wizards, Doctors, Relationship Gurus, Celebrity Ceos,

By David H. Freedman

Book Overview

Our investments are devastated, obesity is epidemic, test scores are in decline, blue-chip companies circle the drain, and popular medications turn out to be ineffective and even dangerous. What happened? Didn't we listen to the scientists, economists and other experts who promised us that if we followed their advice all would be well?

Actually, those experts are a big reason we're in this mess. And, according to acclaimed business and science writer David H. Freedman, such expert counsel usually turns out to be wrong -- often wildly so. Wrong reveals the dangerously distorted ways experts come up with their advice, and why the most heavily flawed conclusions end up getting the most attention-all the more so in the online era.

But there's hope: Wrong spells out the means by which every individual and organization can do a better job of unearthing the crucial bits of right within a vast avalanche of misleading pronouncements.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316023787
• ISBN13: 9780316023788
• Release Date: June 2010
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.6" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Asking the hard questions

Author David Freedman takes on the experts, and how they mislead us, if we let them. This original and common-sense critique of expert opinion traces how it gains credibility within a particular field, often spilling over to a much larger audience. It scrutinizes the many ways advice may take a wrong turn, even when it comes from one of the greats. The book is well researched with examples from medicine, science, business,...

What's Right About "Wrong"

With insight and inventiveness, David H. Freedman synthesizes the latest research on not just why but how experts fail us. We live in a time of the search for the quick fix; Freedman gives the lie to the very concept and shows us how to get inside the studies and reports we rely on to actually benefit our lives. A must-read for every thinking person.

Wrong

This book confirms what I have suspected for a time--that many if not most studies have a conscious or unconscious bias. While I do not disregard all studies, I ask myself "who is conducting the study" and "how large is it."

Expert opinions are wrong in 2 out of 3 cases

There's a great routine which once appeared on the old Laugh In show where an interviewer asked Goldie Hawn how she felt about being so dumb. Not bad, she said, because it's the "smart" people who are always giving us the wrongheaded advice that gets us into real trouble. Who's responsible for the state of the economy? The "smart" people. Who's responsible for when we've gone to war? The "smart" people. Yep, the "smart"...

A book I can really use

Like a lot of people, I listen hard to what my doctor says, swallow whole the advice of a lawyer when I seek it, etc... Freedman's book is a wakeup call for me and the many people who tend to equate narrow expertise with reliable, and especially, knowledgeable advice. Oil industry engineers are only the latest experts to give us a false sense of security; who's next? This book offers great insights into the industry of...