In Joe Hallinan’s case, you CAN tell a book by its cover. In fact, the title, “Why We Make Mistakes” tells you all you need to know.

For the answer, Joe draws upon his years as an journalist for the Wall Street Journal, where his investigative reporting skills earned him a Pulitzer Prize.

Joe started to notice that some qualities people are praised for, such as the ability to multi-task, are far more detrimental than helpful, at least when it comes to cutting down on making mistakes. Also, does it seem men flub up more than women? Joe says sometimes that’s absolutely true and he wanted to find out why.

His book explores the basics of how we think, see, remember and forget, and it explains why, in many cases, we’re wired for making some colossal mistakes.