In Praise of Error

Many people know that Columbus wouldn't have dared to sail across the Atlantic if he had been aware how far the way to Asia really is. But there exist a lot more errors which turned out to be useful. Great thinkers like Copernicus and Einstein, but also ordinary people made mistakes which changed our world in many ways. A collection of the most interesting and useful errors in history, science, kitchen and art. Contents: Errors – always negative? To err as a program? Trial and error or: What geniuses and rainworms have in common Mistakes? How delicious! – Potato crisps and cauliflower The great fried potatoes failure Tofu, cheese, wine & Co. Cauliflower and beyond In wine there is error Copernicus or: a rounder rounding … and Kepler Discovering America with Aristotle El Dorado: the mirage of greed Dreams, lies and literature: Schliemann Creative misunderstandings in literature Kandinsky or: The right wrong view Only relatively right assumptions: theory of relativity Unsuccessful, but still a masterpiece: the Michelson–Morley experiment A bit of theory on error Sloppiness saves the lives of millions Can false prophecies be useful?