Well-written accounts of famous and not so famous mistakes and disasters through history. Arranged chronologically from the "bent" pyramid to the banking crisis of 2008. Maps are the primary illustrations, with a few additional photos for each account.

The author is precise in his examinations of each event as to cause and effect. "Mistakes," in his definition, are preventable and the result of human carelessness, ineptitude, ignorance, laziness, or some combination. "Disasters," especially natural disasters, are not of human origin, but human failures often made them worse.

This is not a long book (220 pages), but it is far-ranging, both through history and through different types of event. There are battle mistakes, religious mistakes, economic mistakes, natural disasters, building disasters, cultural disasters. Recommended. ( )