To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design, by Henry Petroski
Summary: Petroski takes us through a bunch of conspicuous engineering failures throughout history and describes the technical and sociological solutions that followed.
Lessons: Engineering runs through alternating cycles in history where periods of innovation, new ideas/materials, and speed result in disasters (the Tacoma Narrows bridge), followed by periods of conservatism and overbuilding (the Firth of Forth).
The Logic of Failure, by Dietrich Doerner.
Summary: Doerner draws on historical and laboratory data to illustrate generic features of many/most (I'd say "all") failures of judgment in complex situations. He offers suggestions on how to overcome our predisposition to failure in these situations.
Lessons: This book is a treasure trove. It ranges broadly -- complexity, goals, models, time, ignorance, planning, and more. I can't emphasize enough how illuminating (and readable!) this book is.
Here are some quotes from my notes on the first half of the bo...
Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, by Richards Heuer
Summary: Intelligence analysts cope with the need to aggregate heterogeneous data of wildly varying quality into coherent decision-making frameworks. This book catalogues historical failures made in this sort of analytical context and suggests how to overcome common traps.
Lessons: This is a great guide from a sharp practitioner. Analysts wanting to draw conclusions from data should generate a wide range of hypotheses and use falsification to narrow down to a smaller range of options. Such an approach a... (read more)