unfortunately you can't trust people's facts

Easiest Person to Fool: its yourself!

Kaiser Josef Wrote Don Giovanni Syndrome (Phil Paine): we often give rulers credit for things that just happened when they were alive. If you asked the oligarchs of any declining place, they will tell you that they and their ancestors were the source of all wealth and creativity, when in fact the elites took over as the growth and newness were

Persona: writers and poets often speak in voices which are not their own voice. Its dangerous to assume that a love song is about a love affair that the author really had, or that the politics of a chronicle are the politics which the author would express over a jug of beer.

Incorrect Premises: many people’s beliefs about the past are rooted in false assumptions, such as assuming that riding a horse was as convenient as driving a car or of course there were nonpartisan, impersonal courts following formal procedures with jurisdiction over everyone or obviously everyone was either superstitious and ignorant or a liberal

Books Feed Books: often this how-to book retells that how-to book even if no skilled worker actually does it that way. If there are 10 books on a topic, someone will probably write the eleventh because there is clearly an interest and they have models to follow.

Predictions, like advice, often tell you more about the person giving them than about the world.

Argumentative Theory of Reason (Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber): You cannot reason someone out of a position which they did not reason themselves in to, yet hearing other views helps you develop your own. If we were always as cautious and unsure as the evidence warrants, little ancient history would be written!

Confabulation (Skeptic’s Dictionary): see also Power of Fiction. NB. “children and many adults confabulate when encouraged to talk about things of which they have no knowledge.”