Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters: Thirty-Nine Tiny Mistakes That Changed the World Forever

by Jared Knott, Win Blevins (Foreword)

How often does it happen that a single tiny mistake causes an entire civilization to collapse? More often than you think! Readers of Jared Knott's book, Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters, will be amazed at the little things that changed history in a big way. Here are a few examples:

A single document poorly designed by one single clerk in one single county changed the outcome of a presidential election and led directly to a major war.
A soldier accidentally kicks a helmet off of the top of a wall and causes an empire to collapse.
A small mechanical device several inches long fails to function, which changes the outcome of WWII and leads to the death of millions of people.
A man fails to gather his army in time to defend against an attack because of the temptation of opium and a young slave woman.
And many more!

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical, Audiobook, Civil War

457 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 27, 2020

Reviews

[Richard J. Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty disjointed and sophomoric. Not sure the stories are consistent with the thesis. The wrap-up was silly and again only tangentially relevant to the stories in the book. Toilet time reading at best.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Normally, one regrets the errors, the oops!, the mistakes made with no intension of causing harm but it is those minor details that - once one can look back at the disaster that unfolded - that are sometimes seen as the cause of the failure. And sometimes, they are never even seen until someone deliberating investigates what happened. Why did this plan fail? What was overlooked?

Obviously, there are 39 instances included but I'm going to list only a few. You'll have to read it yourself to find out them all - and they are set up so that the reader can pick specific chapters or categories.

Watergate - the "burglars" were deliberately told to put the tape on the door lock vertical so no one could see the edges. Yep, they put it across and when security went by, he saw the edges and called police who were present when the three-piece suit burglars opened the door to leave.

The Florida 'butterfly' ballot that confused so many voters that Bush 2 was elected as President.

The Bay of Pigs fiasco when Kennedy authorized some B26 bombers to evacuate some of the rebels which was to be covered by A4 fighter planes. Problem - B26 bombers - manned by the Alabama National Guard - had left from Nicaragua and the A4's left from the U.S.S. Essex off the eastern coast of Cuba. Problem - no one thought to compare the original time zone - Nicaragua is on Central Time Zone and the Essex was sitting in the Eastern. So the fighters were an hour late even though they were "on time".

The shift change forgot to give the incoming shift lookout the key to the binoculars cabinet which contributed to the H.M.S. Titanic disaster as the lookouts had difficulty seeing into the darkness and amidst the icebergs.

There are several instances where the author refers back to another chapter - for example, J.F. Kennedy - the route through Dallas that had tight turns which made the driver slow to practically a standstill to make the turn while another was about him being sent to the Pacific because of his relationship with a Nazi spy.

Multiple instances of the so-called 'butterfly effect' and Murphy's Law. All were interesting to hear and just shows that it is not the big, grandiose actions that cause a failure but usually the little things that can add up way too quickly and way too easily.

2025-037

[Diana R. Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read

History is full of well remembered tragedies and this book highlights many of them with the details that caused them to occur. Hindsight is often 20/20 and this plays off of that thought. It was a great read and I recommend.

[Lina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed the first half of the book. All of the facts there were presented in such an interesting and easy to follow way. Unfortunately, I can not say the same about the second half. Most of the chapters were quite boring. Stories were a bit to far fetched to align with the theme of the book.

[Lloyd Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes all it takes for a book to reel me in is a great concept. And Jared Knott's Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters definitely has that. This book has it all:

1. Something for everybody - politics, the military, science, medicine, and loads of history, including one story from 2500B.C.! 2. Tremendous research
3. Tons of near misses
4. Great introduction
5. Cool pictures (and not too many of them to take away from the stories)
(On a personal note, the 82nd Airborne is mentioned a couple of times. That was my brother's unit. In fact, he was in a plane on the ground during the Bay of Pigs incident. The battle ended before he could be sent.)

The book has 30 sections. But this is misleading because many of the sections have multiple examples of how a tiny blunder led to a big disaster. I'm going to just give you a couple of them to whet your appetite. These stories, along with so many others, just made my jaw drop. To whit:

1. We've all heard how the security guard, Frank Wills, came across evidence that exposed the burglaries at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in 1972. And, of course, Nixon ultimately resigned because of the fallout. But do you know how Wills found out what had happened (you're not going to believe this!)? The burglars put tape in the door from the garage leading to a staircase so they wouldn't get locked out. But, guess what? They placed the tape across the lock horizontally instead of vertically. Wills could see the tape. Are you kidding me? And, on top of that, the local police were called but were not available. So plainclothes detectives, who were shabbily dressed, were sent, and the lookouts on the roof didn't think anything of it because they were not in uniform. Wow!

2. We all know that WW1 started because Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungry was assassinated. Did you know that the driver of the car that held the assassin took a wrong turn? That's what put the assassin in a position to shoot Ferdinand.

3. It is commonly held that WWII started in 1937 in a confrontation between Japan and China. What you may not know is that one of the Japanese soldiers left the battlefield to go to the bathroom and got lost in the woods on the way back. The Japanese assumed that the Chinese had taken this soldier and demanded to be allowed to search for him. The Chinese said no. This was the start of the second Sino-Japanese War.

And, by the way, Mrs. O'Leary's cow did NOT start the Great Chicago Fire.

You will also be able to read about great sibling rivalries and their consequences on world history; and the time zone that prevented a military victory; and the assassination that took place because a bodyguard and U.S General did not attend a theater production (guess who?); and a Civil War battle that could have changed the outcome if orders had not been dropped in a field; and...

I have to stop here, even though I don't want to. Every section (and every sub-section) is just so darn interesting. You will be mesmerized by Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters or my name isn't The Book Sage!

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I read this book twice, but it was more than worth the effort. I enjoyed Knott's point of view, in describing small mistakes that can lead to larger disasters. I was amazed at the amount of detail and research that Knott did for this book, and I dearly love good research! As someone with several neuroscience degrees, who studied the brain, I especiialy got a kick out of reading about two times when brain trauma may have had an impact on history, with Patton and Henry VIII. We are just now understanding how bad concussians can be. But normally we don't think of looking back into the medical history of people, and finding where the problems started and why. I bet you could get an entire book out of checking people's medical history...for example, really delving into Abraham Lincoln's depression and how much of an impact that had on the Civil WAr. I've seen bits and pieces in other books like this, but I'd appreciate an entire book on a variety of world leaders!

Anyway, this book is almost a must read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in history. Knott writes extremely well. So I have no problem giving this a five star review. Fascinating and insightful.

[Matt Huber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating.

[Lindsey Geddes · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda!“- Samantha Jones, Sex & the City. Pretty much the theme of this collection of histories worst fuck ups. You can read this book in any order that you prefer only save the conclusion for last. The fuck ups are grouped by theme but you can still skip around. I loved diving deep into the topics I wanted to know more about, surprised at those I had no idea about and struggled to get thru the ones I did not care about. My only issue with this book is forcing myself to read thru the fuck ups that were really not that interesting to me. Otherwise, a great collection of histories epic fails.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read.

Chapter 24: Was Hitler Crazy
Chapter 24 brought to mind that I did not remember reading about Dr. Morrel in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I looked. It was there. I had just not noticed it amid all the other stuff that was going on.

[Susan Keefe · Rating 5 out of 5]

If history books were all written like this one, there would be many more people interested in the subject; it's simply fascinating!

Meticulously researched, the author, Jared Knott, entertains his readers with incredible examples of disasters which have occurred throughout history. Skilfully written, he illustrates wonderfully the consequences of the butterfly effect of tiny blunders, accidental changes in plans, and not so good intentions have changed the course of history for people, countries, and indeed in some instances, the world.

I studied Modern History and knew the details of some of the events he writes about. Yet, he has uncovered tiny details, omissions, or slight mistakes which occurred at the time, and in telling them, reveals how these moments in time had enormous impacts on our world today. I love the quotes he uses throughout, however one especially highlights the message that we learn by our mistakes.

"Success in life is the result of good judgment. Good judgment is usually the result of experience. Experience is usually the result of bad judgment. - Anthony Robbins"

Whatever period of history you are interested in, there will be a story to entertain you, proving in the immortal words of Robert Burns written in 1785, "best-laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley [go often awry]." Personally, I loved reading the chapter on sibling rivalry, discovering sibling pairings which I never realized, and marvelled at the rifts which are created in families, and which in some cases last a lifetime.

Jared Knott is a father of five and he lives with his wife, Kathryn, in the Atlanta area. He is a decorated war veteran who went on to have a successful career in sales and marketing, and the home improvement industry. The author of numerous articles on a variety of subjects, "Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters," is his first book and one which I recommend highly as not only informative but extremely entertaining.

[Michael Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

The theme of this pop history collection is “For want of a nail. . . .” What small events or accidents or poorly th9ught out decisions in history had unintended, often unimaginable consequences? Stonewall Jackson’s death by friendly fire at Chancellorsville is an obvious one because the South’s chances in the war were considerably lessened with the loss of its greatest field tactician. Or, you can go back all the way to the conquest of Sardis by Cyrus the Great because a Lydian soldier accidentally lost his helmet off the city’s parapet and revealed a secret path into the city when he went to retrieve it. (That’s according to Herodotus, anyway.) Knott is not a trained historian (he doesn’t really give his background except that he’s a military veteran), but he covers a large number of such curiosities that may not be familiar to most readers -- but, unfortunately, he does it rather sloppily. He often wanders far afield in providing context for the stories he includes, spending several dozen pages on, for example, simian evolution and the history of vaccination in his lead-up to where AIDS/HIV came from -- and it’s questionable whether that even qualifies for inclusion anyway. If he had edited his work more closely, of course, it would have resulted in a much thinner book. So there’s some interesting stuff here but you’ll have to wade through a lot of material of doubtful relevance to get to it.

[James Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the quest for potential good reads, exciting things happen. Jared Knott's entertaining "Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters: Thirty-Nine Tiny Mistakes That Changed the World Forever" might pop up on the reading radar. Far from being a historical trivia collection, the book shows how forgetting or overlooking a necessary item or sequence step (a tiny blunder) can lead to a catastrophic (big disaster) outcome.

The "Titanic" sinking is one such instance. The ship's crow's nest locker contained binoculars for the lookouts searching for potential sailing hazards. The second officer controlled the locker's key. Before sailing, David Blair was "Titanic's" second officer. Charles Lightoller, a more experienced ship's officer, replaced Blair at the last minute. Mr. Blair forgot to give Mr. Lightoller the key during the changeover process. Without binoculars, the lookouts relied on personal eyesight as "Titanic" sailed through the nighttime open sea. The iceberg was spotted, but too late to avoid the collision.

"Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters: Thirty-Nine Tiny Mistakes That Changed the World" is informative and engaging, making it a real treat for history buffs.

[Jimmy Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve learned syphilis is responsible for most of the world’s problems.

My friend and I both decided to read this book together. We love history and it was fun to talk about. The stories were interesting and it had a wide range of topics and eras of history. I had a few thoughts that could’ve been improved.

There seemed to be many wild claims that a huge amount of people had syphilis, to the point thay it because a joke with my friend and I. Even if the author would later state that “most historians disagree this person has syphilis”, it was still mentioned and played off that they did. Just a weird focus.

It also was interesting how focused the book was in the Kennedys. Many of the chapters discussed them and their issues. Not necessarily a bad thing, but was weird.

Lots a grammar and typos throughout the book.

Overall, interesting and educational! They were too many far reaches to state how history could’ve gone if the small mistakes were never made to get to 4 or 5 stars.

[Alan Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Details Details Details indeed!

I enjoyed reading this book . There were a number of errors and typos that detracted from the flow. In addition, some very speculative conclusions and assumptions were made regarding the course of history had those tiny details been managed properly or differently. Some arguments were persuasive, others more in the realm of wishful, if not hopeful thinking. Many factors can come into play as events unfold. Knowing the future, or the past that never happened, must be left in the form of conjecture. Just as one tiny error can trigger a massive conflagration on a worldwide scale, another corrective “mistake” can douse that flame before it starts.
Still, many lessons can be learned here. Just be attentive to those details- e.g.: SOE was Special Operations Executive not secret….Those little things do raise doubts!

[Bryan Whitehead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jared Knott adheres with varying fidelity to the thesis implied by his book’s title. At one extreme, the wrong turn taken by Franz Ferdinand’s chauffeur was a clear cut case of a tiny blunder that led to a big disaster. On the opposite side of the scale, the sad tale of Rosemary Kennedy misses the mark entirely (having your daughter lobotomized is not a small “oops,” and the mistake had no relevance to the course of world events beyond the author’s apparent general dislike for the Kennedys). And Knott and I have radically different opinions on the merits of the likes of Robert E. Lee and Richard Nixon. Knott’s writing also leaves a bit to be desired, frequently repetitive in parts while hopelessly vague in others. In fairness, there’s a lot of fascinating history to be found here. It just wasn’t the book it should have been.

[Alan Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reading and it held my attention even on stories that I know very well, like the attack on Pearl Harbor. Nonetheless, the author makes a few errors and his analysis of certain events is off base. For example, he assumes that the destruction of the British Army at Dunkirk will somehow destroy the British RAF. In fact, a failure to rescue the British Army at Dunkirk will still leave the RAF ready to meet a German air attack.

Some lapses of critical thinking occur in several places, but not enough to create any problems. How the author reaches his conclusions is always clearly set out, so you can agree or disagree and not be left wondering how he got to his results. This makes the book more fun. Why read an author where you agree with everything?

AD2

[Matthew Horvat · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled what to write in this review, it was very well researched, and contained quite a bit of things of which I had previously been unaware. However, what cost this book in rating points was that it fell far far short of the 39 mistakes, and was more like 10-15 in actuality. There were cases where a "mistake" was the ballot in Florida, or merely asking the question of whether Hitler was insane. There was even a chapter asking about head injuries to Patton and Henry the 8th. Perhaps this book would have been better if it was entitled what if...instead of mistake that changed the world. Like what if Patton didn't suffer a head injury, or what if they printed the ballot differently...

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was never going to be great literature. Although, there are some really fun compilation books which usually work on a theme. For example: unusual deaths, presidential scandals, mysterious disappearances, etc. This book is kind of a mess. It centers on the idea that tiny mistakes changed history, which is a very interesting premise. Then it proceeds to go all over the place. There are cul-de-sacs and asides. There's a random subchapter called sibling rivalry. There were lots of interesting facts discussed. I can't fault the book on that. If you're looking for a seemingly random selection of things that happened in history, You will enjoy this. But if you're looking for a book that really holds together as a collection proving a specific point, look elsewhere.

[William O. Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book on the “what ifs” that could have changed the course of history due to minor blunders to outright human negligence and carelessness. Many interesting tibits are found within the pages of the book, however, I was a little disappointed when the author wrote about the radio distress call from the Titanic after it was struck by an iceberg. He stated it was an SOS which was sent from the Marconi Room on board the sinking ship. Actually, SOS was not the standard protocol for sending a distress call at this time. It was actually CQD which was sent to alert any nearby ships that could have come to the Titanic’s rescue.

[Vicki Jasper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Details! Details!

Thank started out pretty well, I thought. But as I read it seemed the stories became more and more cursory. I wish the author had covered fewer incidents but spent more time developing the series of events that led to doom. The space shuttle, Apollo 13, the Indianapolis sinking, Pearl Harbor - these are examples of passages that I would have loved reading more of the minutiae.
Overall it is written well, with very few editing errors and typos - my pet peeve about self-published books. It is definitely worth reading, as there are many remarkable stories that entertain and enlighten.

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The devil is in the details

This book is full of tiny mistakes that had grave consequences. It was to a cautionary tale about paying attention to the details. It will also make a person think about all the what if's in History. I don't believe this book was writing to make people afraid, but to make people pay attention. Although a bit lengthy was well worth reading. The idea of a little detail causing a major disaster has been a gold mine for Hollywood and several of them have a placE in this book. So if you want to read about those little details this a good place to find them.

[Bob Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obvious conclusions from fascinating and obscure history

As we’ve all learned but often forget, the devil is in the details, and those who forget (or misunderstand) history may be doomed to repeat it.
The author teaches or at least reminds us of true stories where tiny, seemingly insignificant matters brought about horrendous, history-changing results.
This is a fun-to-read book for those who have forgotten history, and especially for younger readers who may have never been exposed to much history in the first place. It’s a good read.

[John N. Delmore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but Very Biased.

I thought he was to biased in several cases. Example his statement that the only reason Nixon became President was the two people he could never beat were assassinated. They being the Kennedy brothers. Nixon lost to JFK in perhaps the tightest election ever and who was to say RFK was even going to win his party's nomination? I like my history based on facts not political bias.
I would recommend this book to those with little knowledge of history.

[Alexander Lemeshko · Rating 2 out of 5]

Porly written, researched and edited

Barelly finished it. It is collection of anecdotes often without the promised "butterfly" event. Some stories, like AIDS origins are badly plagiarised from other editions with main event totally missing (it was invention of pressurised tire that caused spike in rubber demand and switched colonial explotation of Belgian Congo to industrial horror we know).
It is also US-centered witg some minor exemptions.
Not recommended.

[Michael Patton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of the stories in this book are well-known. But even in such cases, I was still surprised by some of the details revealed. A misplaced piece of tape resulted in the arrest of the Watergate burglars! There are other stories, nearly forgotten, that should be remembered. I'm thinking of the sinking of the Indianapolis. I also learned a valuable concept--something I kinda knew, but had never put into words. "Victory sickness".

[Marc K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook
Since these stories are separate it makes "reading" it in chunks easy. No characters to remember, nor building upon previous chapters.
Overall interesting as I knew a few of the stories, but not most of them.
Given wading into political figures I would expect bias and only got a little as the author clearly liked LBJ over Nixon despite both being equivalents IMO. Both were very flawed individuals and both had flawed presidencies.

[Vivek · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read of historical incidents which straddles a lot of the what if scenarios along with deviations to highlight how positive and negative turns of events took place in our world. There is a lot of speculation on whether the world events would have really changed so want to take that with a grain of salt though a good summary of numerous anecdotes from around the world in domains of politics, science and wars.

[Corbin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Write more Mr. Knott

This book only disappoints because there is Knott another book by this same author that I could find. Presents historical facts in a very original format. Also called, how to annoy your history teacher.
I do have one ?. Could Hitler's Dr and the romanovs priest bear up under comparison?

[Kenneth M. Shepherd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love history, but this book took me beyond my "surface knowledge" of so many events and provided heretofore unknown details that I found fascinating. The writing style was very enjoyable and I marvel at the amount of research required to write this. Great ending. The Devil is, indeed, in the details of so much in life.

[RN · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great if you're into war history, a snooze-fest if not

This has the possibility of being a good book but when the author goes back to the 1200s for stories, they are reaching for stories. I'd skim through a story hoping the next would be better, but it'd be another ancient war story... Yawn