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Galston Daniel Henninger Holman W. Jenkins Andy Kessler William McGurn Walter Russell Mead Peggy Noonan Mary Anastasia O'Grady Jason Riley Joseph Sternberg Kimberley A. Strassel More Editorials Commentary Future View Houses of Worship Cross Country Letters to the Editor The Weekend Interview Potomac Watch Podcast Foreign Edition Podcast Free Expression Podcast Opinion Video Notable & Quotable * Arts & Culture Topics Books Film Fine Art Food & Cooking History Music Television Theater Reviews Architecture Review Art Reviews Film Reviews Television Reviews Theater Reviews Masterpiece Series Music Reviews Dance Reviews Opera Reviews Exhibition Reviews Cultural Commentary More WSJ Puzzles What To Watch Arts Calendar * Lifestyle Topics Careers Cars Fitness Relationships Travel Workplace More On Wine Work & Life Carry On On The Clock Elizabeth Bernstein Turning Points WSJ Puzzles Recipes * Real Estate Topics Commercial Real Estate Luxury Homes * Personal Finance Topics Retirement Savings Credit Taxes Mortgages More Jason Zweig Laura Saunders James Mackintosh * Health Topics Healthcare Pharma Wellness More Your Health * Style Topics Beauty Design Fashion More Off Brand On Trend My Monday Morning * Sports Topics Baseball Basketball Football Golf Hockey Olympics Soccer Tennis More Jason Gay WSJ Logo 'How to Expect the Unexpected' Review: Stop Thinking Straight Share Resize --------------------------------------------------------------------- Listen (3 min) BEST OFBooks & Arts in Review Our Guide to Autumn Reading'King Hancock' Review'Why We Love Baseball' ReviewThe Best Books of October This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/ how-to-expect-the-unexpected-review-stop-thinking-straight-58db8846 1. Arts & Culture ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Books ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Bookshelf 'How to Expect the Unexpected' Review: Stop Thinking Straight 'Curveballs,' 'snowballs' and 'boomerangs.' These are all examples of how people are generally terrible at nonlinear thinking. By Matthew Hutson Nov. 19, 2023 4:28 pm ET Share Resize --------------------------------------------------------------------- Listen (3 min) image In 1518 a woman in what is now France began dancing. Unable to control herself, she danced on and off for days; soon dozens of others joined her, leading to one of the best-documented cases of a "dancing plague." In a sense, this phenomenon was not so different from what happens when misinformation is shared online: Both are examples of social contagion, in which an idea or behavior hops from one person to another. But while both have an element of zaniness, they also have a dark side: In 1518 several people were said to have danced themselves to death. Drawing the connection between two such superficially disparate ideas is typical of Kit Yates's "How to Expect the Unexpected: The Science of Making Predictions--and the Art of Knowing When Not To." Mr. Yates, a mathematician at the University of Bath, gathers examples from science, literature, history and current events to illustrate the types of situations that surprise us, and to discuss why we're constantly caught off guard by them. Copyright (c)2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 [wsj-logo-b] Continue reading your article with a WSJ subscription Subscribe Now Already a subscriber? 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All Rights Reserved. Copyright (c)2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.