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Deadly Decisions: How False Knowledge Sank the Titanic, Blew Up the Shuttle, and Led America into War Kindle Edition

by Christopher Burns (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 9 ratings
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How did we get into today's financial mess that not only threatens America but the entire world? Remember Enron? Why did that debacle happen? How do groups privy to special knowledge and "truths" make decisions that lead to disasters like the Iraq War, the sinking of the Titanic, and the blow up of the Challenger Shuttle? How could such informed experts end up being so wrong? In Deadly Decisions, Christopher Burns―one of the country's leading experts on modern information management―searches the biology of the brain, "group think," and the structure of organizations for practical answers to the problem of virtual truth―internally consistent evidence and assumptions that purport to describe reality, but often are dead wrong!• How can we avoid wishful thinking, information overload, uncertainty absorption, and an unintentional twisting of the facts? • Why are startup groups agile and innovative while large organizations lumber along, bogged down in false knowledge? • How can societies rediscover the power of truthful communication?Burns suggests that, as individuals, we must learn to be skeptical of our own sly and beguiling minds. As members of a group, we need to be more wary of the omissions, inventions, and distortions that come all too naturally to all of us. And as consumers of information we have to hold professionals, politicians, and the media more accountable. As Deadly Decisions makes clear, only through a deeper understanding of how individuals, groups, and society process information can we succeed in those extraordinary endeavors that are the promise of the Information Age.
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  5. Publication date
    November 7, 2008
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Beginning with the Titanic disaster, Burns compellingly argues that some of the worst "accidents" and mishaps in modern times can be directly attributed to misinformation or misinterpretation of the available data. Burns examines the foundations used in the decision making processes that determined the events of Three Mile Island, the space shuttle Challenger, 9/11, hurricane Katrina response, the invasion of Iraq and more. What emerges is a frightening picture of deliberate distortion of the facts, false information, erroneous assumptions and sheer arrogance that should serve as a wakeup call to us all.

Outlining six tests for truth including detail, verifiable evidence and consistency, Burns shows how easily even knowledgeable professionals can be led astray. Learn how to avoid the pitfalls of a crowd mentality and information overload while discovering some basic hard-wired biology in this eye opening examination of the "information age" . From Wall Street investments to invading foreign countries, the ability to make intelligent informed decisions is vital. Understanding the dynamics of information processing has never been more critical and Burns goes a long way toward providing the necessary tools to separate clever fiction from solid facts." --monstersandcritics.com, Sandy Amazeen, Dec 27, 2008

"Christopher Burns has searched through the details of a dozen disasters in recent years to find an alarming and consistent pattern of false knowledge and failed decisions, explaining in the process how many of these are the natural result of the brain s biology, individual behavior, and group decision-making. Deadly Decisions is a horrifying tale of error, delusion, and deceit. Catastrophes that were 'no one's fault' turn out to have been everyone's fault. But then he shows how we can overcome this danger through critical thinking, information literacy, and a greater commitment to the truth. If your company's success, your security, or your life are riding on someone else's information skills, urge them to read this book." --Paul Zurkowski, founder and former president of the Information Industry Association

"If the Information Age ever had a wakeup call it is this. Deadly Decisions does for information what An Inconvenient Truth did for climate change, what Silent Spring did for the environment. It points out the perils as well as the promise of betting our lives on information, at a time when we have no other choice. Brilliant, terrifying, true." --Leland Schwartz, Editor and Publisher, States News Service

"This is a very important book for this particular time." -- Benjamin C. Bradlee, Former Editor, The Washington Post

"[A] stunning array of insights, Deadly Decisions opens the way to an age of thinking truthfully together. Burns has given us a new conceptual framework of startling importance." --Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy and publisher of Brain/Mind Bulletin

"Beginning with the Titanic disaster, Burns compellingly argues that some of the worst "accidents" and mishaps in modern times can be directly attributed to misinformation or misinterpretation of the available data. Burns examines the foundations used in the decision making processes that determined the events of Three Mile Island, the space shuttle Challenger, 9/11, hurricane Katrina response, the invasion of Iraq and more. What emerges is a frightening picture of deliberate distortion of the facts, false information, erroneous assumptions and sheer arrogance that should serve as a wakeup call to us all.

Outlining six tests for truth including detail, verifiable evidence and consistency, Burns shows how easily even knowledgeable professionals can be led astray. Learn how to avoid the pitfalls of a crowd mentality and information overload while discovering some basic hard-wired biology in this eye opening examination of the "information age" . From Wall Street investments to invading foreign countries, the ability to make intelligent informed decisions is vital. Understanding the dynamics of information processing has never been more critical and Burns goes a long way toward providing the necessary tools to separate clever fiction from solid facts." --monstersandcritics.com, Sandy Amazeen, Dec 27, 2008

About the Author

Christopher Burns (Ipswich, MA) has been a news executive and an independent consultant to government and the private sector for thirty years, advising clients on emerging information management technologies and the evolution of the information economy. His previous positions include vice president of the Washington Post Company; senior vice president of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune; executive editor of UPI; and president of Christopher Burns, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002EZZ5D6
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Prometheus (November 7, 2008)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 7, 2008
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2678 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 9 ratings

About the author

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Christopher Burns

Christopher Burns

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Christopher Burns started his career as assistant to the Director of the Yale University Press, and at the Director’s suggestion, enrolled in IBM’s new course on the fundamentals of computing, intended to train professional programmers and systems analysts. The thought was that one day computer technology might have an effect even on publishing, and a young person should know about these things. During his years at the Yale Press, he wrote a major industry study on computerized production technologies and built the first database of books for the Yale Co-op bookstore. Years later, he designed the Onyx database of book data now used by Amazon and publishers around the world.

In the spring of 1968, after graduating from Army Officer Candidate School, he was assigned as chief of computer operations at a secure communications center serving the White House, the Pentagon, and other classified organizations on the East Coast. Then, as Command Information Officer for the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam, he led a detachment of reporters and photographers putting out a weekly newspaper, a monthly magazine, and two books, one of which was later named the best Army publication of the year.

On his return, he joined the Harvard University Press where he launched the new Harvard Paperback series. He was later recruited by Arthur D. Little, Inc., a well-known Cambridge research and consulting firm, and began a long practice in the future of new information technologies, office automation, and online publishing. As a consultant and large-scale systems designer, he led the development of digital publishing systems for United Nations headquarters, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the governments of the U.S., Ireland, and Iran, as well as dozens of the country’s largest corporations.

In 1980, he went to the Washington Post Company as Vice President/Planning, still focusing on the future of computer technology and the media. And from there he moved to the management side as Senior Vice President (general manager) of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune. After three years he returned to systems design and technology consulting with his own practice, and for the next 25 years followed the rise of the internet and the birth of digital information services, deeply involved in the development of new online networks for several governments and most of the major companies in the information industry sector. He spent a year as Executive Editor of UPI, the worldwide news service, and served on the boards of the Information Industry Association and several information industry startups.

Mr. Burns has two patents on online information technology, covering the field of consumer networks and the emerging Internet of Things. In the last few years, he has turned primarily to writing, having published Deadly Decisions (Prometheus), The Seashell Anthology of Great Poetry (Random House), Vietnam Album, a history of the war, The New Old Age (Seashell Press), Immortal Poets (another anthology of poetry with history and biographies), and several novels.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
9 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Rodger Shepherd
5.0 out of 5 stars Sobering and needed
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2009
Verified Purchase
The other reviewers have very adequately described this book, and I will not repeat them. Instead I will share my experience in reading this book.

It happens that, when I started reading "Deadly Decisions", I had just finished reading "With Wings Like Eagles" by Korda. This is a new book about the famous Battle of Britain. In Korda's book he portrays Air Marshall Dowding as someone who almost singlehandedly organized and maintained the air defence of the English Coast at a time when the threat of a cross-channel invasion by the Germans was a very real threat. Dowding's ideas were opposed by his staff, his pilots, and by his government, but in the end he was vindicated. Yet in "Deadly Decisions" Brand provides several examples of leaders who ignored advice with disatrous consequences. Of course, Brand effectively argues that leaders can and do filter and even distort advice. Advisors and staff to leaders must also realize that there are times when they must be prepared to sacrifice personal careers in the interest of avoiding potential disasters. These are lessons that we need to learn and internalize thoroughly.

I found the book very sobering and very worthwhile.

Rodger Shepherd
2 people found this helpful
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L.W. Brittian
4.0 out of 5 stars As advertised
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2019
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As advertised
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Anonymous
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2017
Verified Purchase
Excellent, prescient discussion--an important and timely read, given today's political climate.
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E. Nikolaidis
5.0 out of 5 stars A thorough investigations of the causes of bad decisions
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2009
This is the third, and most insightful book that I read recently on bad decisions (the other two were "Flirting with Disaster" by Marc Gerstein and "Profiles in Folly" by Alan Axelrod). Besides famous disasters, such as the space shuttle failure, the book presents a very thorough investigation on the reasons disasters happen, including distortions and biases in human thinking, overconfidence and rejection of dissonant evidence. This can help readers become aware of faults in the way people perceive facts and update the beliefs, thereby avoiding bad decisions.
4 people found this helpful
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William R. Welter
4.0 out of 5 stars False Knowledge concept is powerful
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2009
Verified Purchase
I conduct workshops on critical thinking and decision making for businesses around the world. The stories and explanation of the concept of "false knowledge" is powerful and needs to be included in discussions about "the givens" in any important decision. I will modify my workshops because of this book.
One person found this helpful
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4.0 out of 5 stars Can We Ever Learn?
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2008
This books illustrates the disasters that have resulted when, despite piles of data to the contrary, CIA investigators, savvy Wall Street industry analysts, and others let themselves be sucked in by the common wisdom rather than actually reviewing readily available information with an even moderately independent eye. It wasn't fear of bucking the tide; they were getting caught in the gestalt. Usually, it seems, gestalt trumps experience; gestalt trumps intelligence. Maybe it's happening out there again right now. How the heck do we avoid this trap? There are some ideas here, but I'm still nervous.
3 people found this helpful
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JCW
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Explorations
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2008
Why is it that over and over people don't question what they've heard or assumed and someone ends up dead or bankrupt? This book details many high-profile examples of this and looks at the causes, both physical and social. It offers both insights and techniques for personal defense. My wish is that Burns had a chapter on the current financial mess, but that will have to wait for the next edition.
One person found this helpful
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