Book Reading #47: Why We Make Mistakes

Why We Make Mistakes

Joseph T. Hallinan

Summary: 

Chapter 8: We Like Things Tidy. In this chapter, Hallinan discusses the idea that people like to straighten things up, make them simple or even rationalize them in order to understand them better. Some of the examples he gave included those of straightening streets in New York, the Seine river in Paris; simplifying or shortening maps, stories that we re-tell and even the national anthem. Hallinan explains we don't do it in purpose, in fact we truly believe what we do.

Chapter 9: Men Shoot First. Throughout the chapter, Hallinan gives different examples of actions where men and women behave differently. In majority of the cases, men tend to do better than women. Hallinan attributes this to men being overconfident. This overconfidence is then transformed into taking risks for example; men are more likely to take risks than women. One of the roots of this difference is attributed to the early years of men and women; men are given more freedom to 'tinker' (explore) around than women.

Discussion:

This is something I really hadn't though about. After I read part of chapter eight, I went to a lecture series and the program for the even had the map of the American continent drawn on it. I looked at it, and realized that it was really simplified. I am not sure what the reason for this was, but it made me think back about the chapter. Do we really simplify things just to understand them better, or do we do it to make things easier?

Chapter nine made me think back at my childhood growing up in a small town in Mexico. Ever since I was eight or nine my mom would give me permission to go to my friends' houses which were around 4 or 5 blocks away. I remember just taking different routes to their homes, not sure if its because I was lost or not! I found this chapter really interesting given I'm a woman in Computer Science. It just made me thing about my level of confidence and if it was in fact affected by my childhood.