4 ms·
Ask HN: Good books to read about failures of human systems?
I've always found the failure of large or complex systems failing to be interesting (e.g., the 2003 blackout of the Northeastern U.S. [1]). Are there any books you've read that detail failures like these and explain how/why they happened and what was done to correct the mistake(s)?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003
- smacktoward 9y agoThe 9/11 Commission's final report (https://9-11commission.gov/report/ https://9-11commission.gov/report/) is very good. Also good is Edward Tufte's "PowerPoint Does Rocket Science" (https://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001yB&topic_id=1 https://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=...), on how NASA's deck-centric systems of internal communication led to the loss of the space shuttle Challenger.
- josquindesprez 9y agoIf you haven't seen it already, start with Feynman's appendix to the report on the Challenger disaster: (https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/Appendix-F.txt https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/roge...). Pretty much any of the reports put out by the NTSB would fit the bill. They do a lot of what I like to call 'full-stack debugging' of engineering (both of products and culture), where the stack spans all the way from material science to management science. It's rarely the case that there's a simple mechanical engineering explanation for the big failures that they investigate. It's the confluence of multiple engineering and cultural failures that causes catastrophes. For a better look at the politics of investigations, try this article on the Columbia disaster, which was on the front page here earlier this week: (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/11/columbias-last-flight/304204/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/11/columbi...). Alternatively, since you mentioned the blackout, there's a lot to learn from analyzing the government response to Katrina, say, something like (https://www.amazon.com/Disaster-Hurricane-Katrina-Homeland-Security/dp/0805086501 https://www.amazon.com/Disaster-Hurricane-Katrina-Homeland-S...).