New York Times columnist Alina Tugend delivers an eye-opening big idea: Embracing mistakes can make us smarter, healthier, and happier in every facet of our lives. In this persuasive book, journalist Alina Tugend examines the delicate tension between what we’re told—we must make mistakes in order to learn—and the reality—we often get punished for them. She shows us that mistakes are everywhere, and when we acknowledge and identify them correctly, we can improve not only ourselves, but our families, our work, and the world around us as well. Bold and dynamic, insightful and provocative, Better by Mistake turns our cultural wisdom on its head to illustrate the downside of striving for perfection and the rewards of acknowledging and accepting mistakes and embracing the imperfection in all of us.

We forget our passwords. We pay too much to go to the gym. We think we’d be happier if we lived in California (we wouldn’t), and we think we should stick with our first answer on tests (we shouldn’t). Why do we make mistakes? And could we do a little better? We human beings have design flaws. Our eyes play tricks on us, our stories change in the retelling, and most of us are fairly sure we’re way above average. In Why We Make Mistakes, journalist Joseph T. Hallinan sets out to explore the captivating science of human error—how we think, see, remember, and forget, and how this sets us up for wholly irresistible mistakes. In his quest to understand our imperfections, Hallinan delves into psychology, neuroscience, and economics, with forays into aviation, consumer behavior, geography, football, stock picking, and more. He discovers that some of the same qualities that make us efficient also make us error prone. We learn to move rapidly through the world, quickly recognizing patterns—but overlooking details. Which is why thirteen-year-old boys discover errors that NASA scientists miss—and why you can’t find the beer in your refrigerator. Why We Make Mistakes is enlivened by real-life stories—of weathermen whose predictions are uncannily accurate and a witness who sent an innocent man to jail—and offers valuable advice, such as how to remember where you’ve hidden something important. You’ll learn why multitasking is a bad idea, why men make errors women don’t, and why most people think San Diego is west of Reno (it’s not). Why We Make Mistakes will open your eyes to the reasons behind your mistakes—and have you vowing to do better the next time.

With C. Martin Hinckley's new book Make No Mistake! An Outcome Based Approach to Mistake-Proofing, that vision can become a reality. If you work for a company that emphasizes traditional quality control methods, it's unlikely that you've seen defects eliminated despite your substantial efforts. Make No Mistake! clarifies the reasons why such traditional methods fail and shows how world-class quality can be achieved at a minimal cost through mistake-proofing — the practice of controlling virtually every source of potential errors. As the author states, "The great value of mistake-proofing is that, independent of the cause, psychological factor, production stage, or potential consequences, it blocks or warns about an undesired outcome at a point in the process when the consequences can be minimized." Truly the first of its kind, Make No Mistake! is a compendium of the best methods for reducing complexity, variation, confusion and the other root causes of defects — but the centerpiece of this powerful mistake-proofing tool is an outcome-based classification system that focuses on preventing rather than detecting defects. Even more importantly, Hinckley's mistake-proofing documentation forms will help you adapt this methodology to your own defect prevention efforts. Make No Mistake! is an amazing compilation of mistake-proofing tools that is encyclopedic in scope. Because mistake-proofing is a skill that improves through familiarity with previous solutions, Hinckley's new classification systems is the key to rapidly finding outstanding solutions to current problems on the shop floor. Make No Mistake! is one book that will be invaluable in your company's quest for quality. Make No Mistake! includes: Over 200 mistake-proofing examples from varied industries Easy-to-use mistake-proofing documentation forms you can use on the job Introduction to principles of mistake-proofing and design for assembly A quick, step-by-step methodology for developing superior mistake-proofing concepts Listing of select suppliers of mistake-proofing devices

A life lesson that all parents want their children to learn: It’s OK to make a mistake. In fact, hooray for mistakes! A mistake is an adventure in creativity, a portal of discovery. A spill doesn’t ruin a drawing—not when it becomes the shape of a goofy animal. And an accidental tear in your paper? Don’t be upset about it when you can turn it into the roaring mouth of an alligator. An award winning, best-selling, one-of-a-kind interactive book, Beautiful Oops! shows young readers how every mistake is an opportunity to make something beautiful. A singular work of imagination, creativity, and paper engineering, Beautiful Oops! is filled with pop-ups, lift-the-flaps, tears, holes, overlays, bends, smudges, and even an accordion “telescope”—each demonstrating the magical transformation from blunder to wonder.

'A masterful introduction to the state of the art in managerial decision-making. Surprisingly, it is also a pleasure to read' – Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow A lively, research-based tour of nine common decision-making traps – and practical tools for avoiding them – from a professor of strategic thinking We make decisions all the time. It's so natural that we hardly stop to think about it. Yet even the smartest and most experienced among us make frequent and predictable errors. So, what makes a good decision? Should we trust our intuitions, and if so, when? How can we avoid being tripped up by cognitive biases when we are not even aware of them? You're About to Make a Terrible Mistake! offers clear and practical advice that distils the latest developments in behavioural economics and cognitive psychology into actionable tools for making clever, effective decisions in business and beyond.