Megan McArdle wants you to know that “you’re not a failure, you’re someone who has failed.” Many times, over and over. And you will again. And that’s probably a good thing, and it makes you a better patriot.

This is (roughly) her hypothesis in The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key To Success (February 2014, $28). McArdle will talk about the book at Sixth and I Historic Synagogue this Wednesday, February 12 at 7 p.m.

While The Up Side of Down might certainly make you feel better about your innumerable, crushing defeats, McArdle is decidedly not here to massage our feelings. The libertarian Bloomberg columnist has a rational perspective on failure, clarifying that “most new products fail,” along with small businesses and people now known as Steve Jobs and Alexander the Great. She cites research in business, science, psychology, and economics showing how failure is widespread and often inevitable.

The “up” side? “Failure is what makes success possible. It’s how we learn what doesn’t work — and therefore how we learn what does,” McArdle says.

And why is this the case? America! The Up Side of Down posits that the concept of falling and getting back up is a strongly American one. After all, the country was started by persecuted peasants looking to start over. McArdle writes that especially in this economy, risk-taking should be rewarded: “a resilient society lets you fail, and even lets the failure sting, but only for a moment. Then it helps you get back on track, and everyone reaps the benefit.”

We can turn failures around best by learning from them, and failing faster next time in order to sooner reach success. As she advises aspiring journalists, “first drafts” can be edited, but ones that don’t exist cannot. She applies logic on the economics of failure to both professional and personal lives.

McArdle has blogged for Bloomberg for over 10 years and has also written for Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, and The Economist. She attended business school at the University of Chicago and is known for her ability to explain economical concepts in understandable terms. The Up Side of Down is recommended for fans of books like Outliers and Daring Greatly.

Tickets for the talk can be purchased here; one is $12 or two plus a book is $30. Will call and doors open at 6 p.m.