In an era plagued by deep fakes and online disinformation campaigns, we still tend to trust what we read in books. But should we?

In the past year alone, errors in books by several high-profile authors — including Naomi Wolf; former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson; historian Jared Diamond; behavioural scientist and "happiness expert" Paul Dolan; and journalist Michael Wolff — have ignited a debate over whether publishers should take more responsibility for the accuracy of their books.