How Cranes Work | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

In the 21st century, we can do extraordinary things: We can predict dangerous storms, explore distant planets, and save people from life-threatening conditions and injuries. Yet highly trained, experienced, and capable people regularly make avoidable mistakes.

In The Checklist Manifesto, Boston surgeon Atul Gawande contends the reason is that knowledge and complexity in many fields have exceeded the capacity of any individual to get everything right. Under pressure, we make simple mistakes and overlook the obvious. Drawing lessons from spectacular successes and failures in recent years, he argues that the solution is a checklist. The book builds the case for checklists and issues a plea for adopting this backstop to human fallibility.

In this episode of "Stuff You Should Know", co-hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant delve into the chilling account of the Hyatt Regency Skywalk disaster. Echoing through the annals of US history, this horrifying event claimed 114 lives and injured hundreds. Yet, the catastrophe was not simply a product of unfortunate circumstances, but a consequence of structural negligence. Clark and Bryant explore the events of that fateful day, from the immediate panic to the intense rescue operations and the subsequent investigation into the disaster's cause.

Their narrative isn't limited to the physical aspects of the disaster. In moving detail, they uncover the human narrative that seeped from the wreckage - tales of survival, bravery, loss, and community response. They reveal how the consequences rippled beyond the immediate victims impacting Kansas City, and even reshaping international regulations in civil engineering. In this compelling episode, listeners are invited to consider the profound, lasting impacts of the Hyatt Regency disaster.

If you’ve ever pushed a “pull” door or accidentally flipped the wrong light switch, you’ve experienced the impact of bad design. You may have blamed these mistakes on yourself, but in reality, the way we interact with the physical world is often driven by design. From smartphones to stovetops, faucets to fighter jets: Every object we encounter on a daily basis is designed. Good design streamlines our lives and makes everyday tasks easier. Bad design, on the other hand, causes frustration, errors, and even dangerous accidents.

In order to tell the difference, we need to understand how we perceive the objects all around us, and how our brains make sense of that information. Combining the principles of cognitive psychology and engineering makes all of us smarter consumers and helps designers create products that work with users, rather than against them.

Thinking in Systems is an introduction to systems analysis. Many aspects of the world operate as complicated systems, rather than simple cause-effect relationships. Understanding how systems work is key to understanding why they tend to produce problems that are stubbornly resistant to improvement.

This book teaches you how to start viewing the world in terms of systems, why we tend to misunderstand complex systems, and how to intervene most effectively in systems. Learn the systems way to view problems as diverse as the war on drugs, harvesting renewable resources, and business monopolies.