WHY WE MAKE MISTAKES

An entertaining and informative study of the physiological and psychological causes of human error is laced with breezy humor. Hallinan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, cites numerous studies that try to answer why people forget their keys, nurses administer wrong doses of medications, and handicappers pick the wrong horses and CEOs the wrong strategies. Along the way, we find that stock analysts fare no better on the exchange than novice investors, that weathermen are perhaps the best predictors, and that there are numerous counterintuitive facts related to mistakes. Marc Cashman reads at a uniformly brisk pace. One wishes that he had paid more attention to the author's charm and wit, which would have relieved his unrelenting documentary-style sameness. Y.R. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2009]