How did security staff at LA International Airport miss 75% of bomb-making materials that went through screening? Which way should you turn before joining a supermarket queue? Why should a woman hope it was a man who witnessed her bag being snatched? And what possessed Burt Reynolds to punch a guy with no legs? Human beings can be stubbornly irrational and wilfully blind … but at least we’re predictably wrong. From minor lapses (why we’re so likely to forget passwords) to life-threatening blunders (why anaesthetists used to maim their patients), Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Joseph T. Hallinan explains the everyday mistakes that shape our lives, and what we can do to prevent them happening.