A month before its catastrophic failure, Wall Street analysts rated Enron a 'buy'. In 2001, at the CIA, FBI, and Department of Defense, a squabbling bureaucracy buried warnings of a looming terrorist attack. And Congress and the country were talked into war against a collapsing dictatorship on the basis of detailed and compelling intelligence, which turned out to be false. How could all of the experts be so wrong? In "Deadly Decisions", Christopher Burns, one of America's leading experts on modern information management, searches the biology of the brain, the behavior of groups, and the structure of organizations for practical answers to the problem of 'virtual truth' - elaborate constructs of internally consistent evidence and assumptions that purport to describe reality, but can often be dead wrong! How can we avoid wishful thinking, information overload, uncertainty absorption, and an unintentional twisting of the facts? Why are start-up 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 the book 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.
Deadly Decisions
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"Deadly Decisions is fully referenced, highly critical, and shockingly revealing. It blows the whistle and warns humanity of future catastrophes that can be prevented by ensuring the efficiency of information handling systems. There is much to learn from this book, and a lot to discuss." -- Book Corner blog and TCM Reviews, March 27, 2009 "Deadly Decisions is an interesting read, and one that works on several levels. You can take it merely as a chronicle explaining the background behind some of the biggest failures of the last 100 years, on a deeper level though it is a book inside out thinking process, and how we selectively choose the data to fit our preferred outcome." -- Blogger News Network, January 14, 2009 "Blending history with issues of critical thinking and technology assessment, Deadly Decisions is a top pick for any college-level collection strong in history, social science, or psychology." -- The Bookwatch, The Midwest Book Review, January 2009
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.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
6 reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A thorough investigations of the causes of bad decisions
5 Jan 2009
By E. Nikolaidis
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
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.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Can We Ever Learn?
20 Nov 2008
By Berkshires
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
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.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating Explorations
22 Nov 2008
By Gronch
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
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.
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