- Publisher: Unicorn
- Year: 2021
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 240pp
- Illustrated: No
- Dimensions: 210x145mm
- Condition: New
- Weight: 0.4kg
- ISBN: 9781913491895
- Product code: 538704
A History of Dangerous Assumptions
From the Wooden Horse of Troy to the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century
John Molesworth New Hardback
Postscript summary
The wooden horse of Troy, expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage, Boeing 737 technology – from Ancient Greece to the present day John Molesworth outlines over 200 examples of hubris and false assumptions, demonstrating that they can be ‘troublesome, undermining, embarrassing’ and, at worst, dangerous.
Product information
Full publisher description
A History of Dangerous Assumptions features over two hundred illuminating and intriguing case-studies of this fascinating subject, including some of the most disastrous assumptions ever foisted upon the human race.
This book began as an experiment, to discover if acting on assumptions could be discerned through the ages. In fact, this matter of assuming... of jumping to conclusions... of lacking sufficient evidence... of taking things for granted... seems to have caused far more problems for civilisation than expected. From Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, to Bonaparte's march on Moscow; from the hubris of Icarus and Phaeton, to the toppling towers of the Tay Bridge; from the maddening phantoms of a Northwest Passage, to the sinking of the Titanic; from the Schlieffen Plan of the First World War, to the creation of assumptions in the approach to D-Day; from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Sherlock Holmes, here lies a highly contrasted trove of stories, episodes and anecdotes, their common link the mysterious mischief of assumption.
This book began as an experiment, to discover if acting on assumptions could be discerned through the ages. In fact, this matter of assuming... of jumping to conclusions... of lacking sufficient evidence... of taking things for granted... seems to have caused far more problems for civilisation than expected. From Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, to Bonaparte's march on Moscow; from the hubris of Icarus and Phaeton, to the toppling towers of the Tay Bridge; from the maddening phantoms of a Northwest Passage, to the sinking of the Titanic; from the Schlieffen Plan of the First World War, to the creation of assumptions in the approach to D-Day; from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Sherlock Holmes, here lies a highly contrasted trove of stories, episodes and anecdotes, their common link the mysterious mischief of assumption.
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538704
A History of Dangerous Assumptions
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The wooden horse of Troy, expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage, Boeing 737 technology – from Ancient Greece to the present day John Molesworth outlines over 200 examples of hubris and false assumptions, demonstrating that they can be ‘troublesome, undermining, embarrassing’ and, at worst, dangerous.
Hardback
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rrp_info:£20.00
productId:158413
bic_code:JFCX
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John Molesworth
General
210x145mm
Unicorn
No
Hardback
