The Myth of Experience

Argumentum Ad Verecundiam. This book had an excellent premise, but just a mediocre implementation (in so far as the arguments themselves - the writing was excellent). Soyer and Hogarth excel when showing how one's own experience can blind oneself in numerous areas and arenas, and suggest ways to overcome this blindness. But then fall to their own blindess in accepting and even appealing to the “authority” of “experts” in various topics - seeming to completely disregard that these very “experts” have the exact same problems with being hampered by their own experiences that Soyer and Hogarth are attempting to show us how to overcome in this book. Ultimately, they make a lot of good points, which is why the book gets as many stars as it does. That you have to wade through so much muck to get to all of them is why it only gets as many stars as it does. Still, absolutely something everyone should read, and thus recommended.