The pantheon of error making is large and always growing. History is replete with notables who have made serious mistakes, who have every right to hide their red faces from the limelight: people like Columbus, Gutenburg, Washington, Einstein. All of them -- and many others -- have had to overcome the errors of their ways to make their marks in the world.

This book presents the many ways in which error has become ingrained in our government, science, medicine, and the arts, how error has changed history, crept into our libraries, altered our thoughts, and affected out daily existence.