Think again: the power of knowing what you don't know

I read "Think again: the power of knowing what you don't know" by Adam Grant a few weeks ago; he is an author new to me to whom I saw a reference in some other book. This is a book well worth reading as it displays in easy to read language what happens when we know a little about a subject then think that we know more than we actually do (in the same way that 80% of drivers think that they are better than average - a mathematical impossibility). An expert in some topic knows that she knows a great deal, and someone who knows nothing about a topic knows that she knows nothing, but someone who knows a little tends to believe that she knows more than she really does.

I fell foul of this syndrome whilst I was reading the book as two other significant events happened at the same time. I received the results of my last set of blood tests and wrote about what seemed to me to be anomalous results for ferritin and T4. At the same time, I was learning about the endocrine system that bestowed a little knowledge upon me.

Real life interfered a little, but today I finally had an appointment with my GP. I raised my concerns but also said that I was aware that a little knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge at all. Indeed, she said; as long as the haemoglobin level is reasonable then the ferritin result doesn't have much meaning. To expand her simile, it's like having money in one's current account (haemoglobin) but no savings (ferritin). She said that it was ok to take iron supplements in order to build up my reserves, but that the current levels are no cause for worry. She was even more dismissive of the T4 result, saying that the TSH level was fine, and that she looks at all of the results as a whole and does not put one specific value under the microscope.

I'll probably do another set of tests in three months to see whether I have succeeded in reducing the hemoglobin A1C level, along with glucose, fats, thyroid and kidney functions.

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This day in history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
766	19/10/2014	Literature review: first draft completed	DBA
1267	19/10/2019	Juliet (naked) - the film	Films, Nick Hornby