Freakonomics co-author Stephen J. Dubner uncovers the hidden side of everything. Why is it safer to fly in an airplane than drive a car? How do we decide whom to marry? Why is the media so full of bad news? Also: things you never knew you wanted to know about wolves, bananas, pollution, search engines, and the quirks of human behavior. Join the Freakonomics Radio Plus membership program for weekly member-only episodes of Freakonomics Radio. You’ll also get every show in our network without ads. To sign up, visit our show page on Apple Podcasts or go to freakonomics.com/plus.
https://freakonomics.com
episode 561: 561. How to Succeed at Failing, Part 1: The Chain of Events
We tend to think of tragedies as a single terrible moment, rather than the result of multiple bad decisions. Can this pattern be reversed? We try — with stories about wildfires, school shootings, and love.
RESOURCES
- Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, by Amy Edmondson (2023).
- "Michigan School Shooter Is Found Eligible for Life Sentence Without Parole," by Stephanie Saul and Dana Goldstein (The New York Times, 2023).
- "How Fire Turned Lahaina Into a Death Trap," by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Serge F. Kovaleski, Shawn Hubler, and Riley Mellen (The New York Times, 2023).
- The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic, by Jillian Peterson and James Densley (2021).
- "I Was Almost A School Shooter," by Aaron Stark (TEDxBoulder, 2018).
EXTRAS
- "Is Perfectionism Ruining Your Life?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
- "Why Did You Marry That Person?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
- "What Do We Really Learn From Failure?" by No Stupid Questions (2021).
- "How to Fail Like a Pro," by Freakonomics Radio (2019).
- "Failure Is Your Friend," by Freakonomics Radio (2014).