Being Wrong

Being wrong is an inescapable part of being alive. And yet we go through life tacitly assuming (or loudly insisting) that we are right about nearly everything - from our political beliefs to our private memories, from our grasp of scientific fact to the merits of our favourite team. Being Wrong looks at why this conviction has such a powerful grip on us, what happens when this conviction is shaken, and how we interpret the moral, political and psychological significance of being wrong. Drawing on philosophies old and new and cutting-edge neuroscience, Schulz offers an exploration of the allure of certainty and the necessity of fallibility in four main areas: in religion (when the end of the world fails to be nigh); in politics (where were those WMD?); in memory (where are my keys?); and in love (when Mr or Ms Right becomes Mr or Ms Wrong).

"Intellectualism made fun! . . . Schulz's call to embrace flaws and errors as potentially beneficial will surely draw legions of follwers."--Newsweek, "An amazing book. . . . I don't know when I last read a book as stimulating, as thoughtful, and as much fun to read."--Harold S. Kushner, author of "When Bad Things Happen to Good People", "Schulz draws on philosophers, neuroscientists, psychoanalysts and bit of common sense in an erudite, playful rumination on error."--Washington Post, "A mirthful and wise diagnosis of what ails us: Schulz dances us through science, psychology, and literature in a sparkling history of (and ode to) human error."--Publishers Weekly, "So, please take this advice: Read BEING WRONG, because it's the right thing to do."--Associated Press

Kathryn Schulz has written for a number of US publications from Rolling Stone to the New York Times, on subjects as varied as right-wing film festivals to the impact of antidepressant use on Japanese culture. In 2004 she was awarded a Pew Fellowship in International Journalism. www.beingwrongbook.com