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David H. Freedman

Wrong: Why experts* keep failing us--and how to know when not to trust them *Scientists, finance wizards, doctors, relationship gurus, celebrity CEOs, ... consultants, health officials and more Hardcover – January 1, 2010

by David H. Freedman (Author)

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Little, Brown and Company
Publication date

January 1, 2010
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6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0316087912
ISBN-13

978-0316087919
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Product details

ASIN : B005DI6QAM
Publisher : Little, Brown and Company; First Edition (January 1, 2010)
Language : English
ISBN-10 : 0316087912
ISBN-13 : 978-0316087919
Item Weight : 1.1 pounds
Dimensions : 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,453,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews:
69 ratings

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5 star		54%
4 star		23%
3 star		11%
2 star		6%
1 star		6%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Booky

Well worth the read!

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2013

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This book goes beyond being just enjoyable and informative to read through; it actually causes a change in thinking and perception that is long lasting. The research is very well documented and cited, the thesis is significant and important, while the authors writing style is consistently smooth and thought provoking. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the topic of the trustworthiness of expert research and advice. You will finish this book likely a skeptic of all experts unless you apply the short section of direction given on determining what advice is likely better to trust going forward. You will find the vast majority of this book focuses on all that is wrong with experts, hence the title. If you are looking strictly for ways to filter out the good advice in your world, you may be disappointed, as the book only briefly touches on such tactics, albeit quite well. In a nutshell, the book acts more to "identify" an important problem than it does to "fix" the problem, which for myself, was more than enough to enlighten.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ned D Ferguson

The one expert who is never wrong

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2020

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God. His transcendent word is never wrong and His universal moral laws are never wrong. Freedman's book only highlights the importance of having a biblical epistemology. In the beginning was Logos and the Logos was with God and the Logos was/is God. Human foundations for knowledge are inadequate. Freedman ignores the question of WHY scientists should bother with ethics. Certainly, ethics are foundational to science. Ironically, that is a question science cannot answer.

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mystified

Despite having some problematic chapters, everyone should read this book

Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2011

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This is a great book encouraging readers to practice due deligence when reading "expert" opinions. Freedman is at his best when analyzing the problems with many scientific studies (including peer-reviewed ones), media reporting, business, lifestyle and financial "gurus".

I had some major problems with chapter 4 "The Idiocy of Crowds" -- a title which was apparently meant in part to ridicule James Surowiecki's fine book "The Wisdom of Crowds" (and perhaps appeal to the elitism of some readers). Criticizing another's work is fine, but Freedman employs straw man tactics in criticizing the wisdom of crowds, confusing it with the wisdom of small groups, teams and mobs, which is never what Surowiecki intended. Almost everyone, including Surowiecki, knows that there are problems with group think, cocky ignoramuses taking over team brainstorming sessions, and mob actions. I would think that Surowieki would almost certainly agree with Freedman's point that "Group successes, according to research, tend to depend on certain conditions: that a group is highly diverse, for example, and that there is little or no interaction between its members on the subject at hand. Unfortunately, these conditions rarely apply to expert crowds."

That same chapter also touches on author Nassim Nicholas Taleb's reputation as a market expert (in reading him, I never assumed that he saw himself as one). In arguing against Taleb's expert reputation, Freedman sites the "Hitchcock effect" which is interesting, because I just finished reading Taleb's "Fooled by Randomness" and he discribes the exact same scenario without giving it a name in a chapter titled "The Mysterious Letter".

The last problem I have with this book is that Freedman (or maybe his editor) shows some subtle biases of his own. When he ventures into politics, he cites only one example of the failure of expertise -- that being the failure of the Bush Administration to listen to the experts and anticipate difficulties during the Iraq war. Freedman sites what he considers to be a great documentary "No End in Sight" which was created by Charles Ferguson with collaboration by Nir Rosen (Remember him? He is the "journalist" who is today being critized for belittling and ridiculing CBS reporter Lara Logan who enduring a brutal sexual assault and beating while covering Egypt) I mean if you're going to cite only one example, why use this one? Why not use several examples from the current Administration too? No administration seems to be more in the thrall of so-called experts than this Administration. Remember how Obama said again and again that Energy Secretary Steven Chu had a Nobel Prize as if that meant he would automatically know how to stop the BP oil spill? Even Chris Matthews got sick of him saying it. Obama also ignored his experts and pursued a drilling moratorium in the Gulf which has, among other things, destroyed many jobs. Obama also talks about "Best Practices" being used to assess how and when people get treatment under Obamacare. Who decides what these "best practices" are? These are extremely important questions that will effect everyone who hasn't gotten an Obamacare waiver/exemption.

If I'm being so critical, why am I giving this book 4 stars? Because overall, it is a really good book and an extemely important one that everyone should read. It really helps you sort through the deluge of "expert opinions". Will you never be fooled? Of course not, but at least you'll know that you might be taken in every once in a while.

10 people found this helpful

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Richord

What's Right with Wrong?

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2010

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This book is a great summary of all that's wrong with information. With the increasing glut of information, it is difficult to cull through to find something that resembles defendable facts.

There is no "answer" to the question of what information is "right", since Freedman points out that much, if not all of what we read is fictional in some sense.

Recently Ben Bernanke was asked how confident that the bond buyback was going to be successful and he said he was 100% confident. This statement alone is indicative of wrong information. How can he, as an economist be 100% certain of anything? This is an example of information that should be discounted by about 100%.

This book provides techniques you can use as filters when examining information from various sources and I think that's great. There is no "right" answer but there are potentially many "wrong" answers that can be exposed by applying some of the techniques he describes in the book.

If only there was some software that would apply these filters to Google searches and warn you of the potential for bias, fraud, and incompetence. Perhaps a "truthiness" detector?

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Keith M

Excellent book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 24, 2016

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Thoroughly researched, highly readable and convincing.

grgo

Not relevant anymore.

Reviewed in France on February 5, 2017

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I honestly tried to finish the book, but it gets boring pretty quickly, it keeps giving examples of all the miscarried investigations the author could find, which would be nice as a database. As a book though, the point gets accross pretty quickly and the scattered ideas couldn't fill 50 pages.

It may have been an interesting topic by 2010, right after the crisis, when everyone was getting into explaining how we weren't able to predict important crashes. But to read it in 2017 seems insufficient, you will get nothing out of the chapters on internet and to keep reading how diet studies are flawed over and over again just made me quit reading the book.

If the idea that a research study can be flawed is new to you and you need to convince yourself that people lie in many ways, you may remotely enjoy the book. 5 years ago.

One person found this helpful

Dr. J

Everyone should read this book.

Reviewed in Canada on February 25, 2018

Verified Purchase

Thought provoking book. I have recommended it to my family and friends.

Brian Bond

Entertaining and interesting book.

Reviewed in Canada on September 25, 2014

Verified Purchase

Entertaining and interesting book.

Three Stars

Reviewed in Canada on August 22, 2014

Verified Purchase

okay

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