Kathryn Schulz has a refreshing account of human error

"Wronger! I love that term," laughs Schulz. "I've called it a wrongness zeitgeist before, and I do feel like there's perhaps a moment of fascination about all this. And yes, it's probably because, as you point out, there have been a series of mistakes so shocking they're grabbing our attention. "Are we 'wronger', though? That's more difficult to measure. Part of our make up has always been that we're susceptible to errors of a vast range, and that hasn't changed. There's a steady state of wrongness and fluctuations within that across the decades and centuries, of course. But, you know, I do think we live in a culture that cares about at least trying to get things right." Despite everything, though, Schulz isn't about to give anyone determined to revel in making mistakes a get-out clause - much like happiness, wrongness isn't something you can chase. It just happens. So, with this book, Schulz isn't encouraging people to be wrong, just not to worry about it so much when they are. "Yes, that's right," she agrees. "I mean, it's inevitable that we're going to be wrong, and frankly we don't need encouragement to make mistakes! But when we are wrong, we can think of it as a precursor to our own advancement, to better insight. To progress. That awareness of wrongness is invaluable in terms of what we can do with it." Which is a nice thought to start the year with. Just don't give Being Wrong as a gift - unless you think the intended recipient can handle its rather obvious implication. Ÿ Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margins of Error is out now From : Ben East