In Sunday’s New York Post, I favorably review James Surowiecki’s new book The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations (though I didn’t like the title and think it leaves anything but an accurate impression of the book’s contents). (Walter Olson, “Mob Wisdom”, Jul. 11). On-topic snippet: Surowiecki offers an account (among much else) of “why juries, political factions or artistic coteries that start out with similar leanings can talk each other into more extreme positions than any of them took originally”.
