|
Showing 1 - 12 of
12 matches in All Departments
If you could rewind your life to the very beginning and then press
play, would everything turn out the same? Or could making an
accidental phone call or missing an exit off the highway change not
just your life, but history itself? And would you remain blind to
the radically different possible world you unknowingly left behind?
In Fluke, myth-shattering social scientist Brian Klaas dives deeply
into the phenomenon of random chance and the chaos it can sow,
taking aim at most people's neat and tidy storybook version of
reality. The book's argument is that we willfully ignore a
bewildering truth: but for a few small changes, our lives - and our
societies - could be radically different. Offering an entirely new
lens, Fluke explores how our world really works, driven by strange
interactions and apparently random events. How did one couple's
vacation cause 100,000 people to die? Does our decision to hit the
snooze button in the morning radically alter the trajectory of our
lives? And has the evolution of humans been inevitable, or are we
simply the product of a series of freak accidents? Drawing on
social science, chaos theory, history, evolutionary biology, and
philosophy, Klaas provides a brilliantly fresh look at why things
happen - all while providing mind-bending lessons on how we can
live smarter, be happier, and lead more fulfilling lives. Praise
for Brian Klaas: 'Illuminating' Adam Grant 'Passionate, insightful,
and occasionally jaw-dropping' Peter Frankopan 'A brilliant
exploration' Dan Snow 'You'll never look at the world the same way
again' Ian Dunt
In the perspective-altering tradition of Malcolm Gladwell's The
Tipping Point and Nassim Nicholas Taleb's The Black Swan comes a
provocative challenge to how we think our world works--and why
small, chance events can divert our lives and change everything, by
social scientist and Atlantic writer Brian Klaas. If you could
rewind your life to the very beginning and then press play, would
everything turn out the same? Or could making an accidental phone
call or missing an exit off the highway change not just your life,
but history itself? And would you remain blind to the radically
different possible world you unknowingly left behind? In Fluke,
myth-shattering social scientist Brian Klaas dives deeply into the
phenomenon of random chance and the chaos it can sow, taking aim at
most people's neat and tidy storybook version of reality. The
book's argument is that we willfully ignore a bewildering truth:
but for a few small changes, our lives--and our societies--could be
radically different. Offering an entirely new lens, Fluke explores
how our world really works, driven by strange interactions and
apparently random events. How did one couple's vacation cause
100,000 people to die? Does our decision to hit the snooze button
in the morning radically alter the trajectory of our lives? And has
the evolution of humans been inevitable, or are we simply the
product of a series of freak accidents? Drawing on social science,
chaos theory, history, evolutionary biology, and philosophy, Klaas
provides a brilliantly fresh look at why things happen--all while
providing mind-bending lessons on how we can live smarter, be
happier, and lead more fulfilling lives.
We live in an accidental world where randomness and chance rule
all. Yet, most of us are under the allusion that we are in control.
Every decision we make, interaction we have or tiny event in our
lives has an infinite number of alternative outcomes that would
have shaped our existence differently. We like to think that
everything happens for a reason, but chance determines our reality
every day. In Fluke, Brian Klaas challenges our deeply ingrained
beliefs about the world and our place in it. Our sense of
individual agency and control over our lives is an illusion. From
the evolution of human biology and natural disasters to the impact
of global events on supply chain disruptions, we are constantly at
the mercy of unpredictable and seemingly accidental occurrences,
and in an increasingly inter-connected world, randomness plays a
bigger role than it ever has done before. But by recognizing the
true scale of chance and deploying evolutionary-style approaches to
problem-solving, we can make smarter choices and by acknowledging
the power of randomness and uncertainty, we can make better
decisions and live happier lives. Fluke encourages us to recognize
the limits of our understanding and embrace the liberating power of
randomness. Every decision we make, interaction we have or tiny
event in our lives has an infinite number of alternative outcomes
that would have shaped our existence differently. We like to think
that everything happens for a reason, but chance determines our
reality every day. In Fluke, Brian Klaas challenges our deeply
ingrained beliefs about the world and our place in it. Our sense of
individual agency and control over our lives is an illusion. From
the evolution of human biology and natural disasters to the impact
of global events on supply chain disruptions, we are constantly at
the mercy of unpredictable and seemingly accidental occurrences,
and in an increasingly inter-connected world, randomness plays a
bigger role than it ever has done before. But by recognizing the
true scale of chance and deploying evolutionary-style approaches to
problem-solving, we can make smarter choices and by acknowledging
the power of randomness and uncertainty, we can make better
decisions and live happier lives. Fluke encourages us to recognize
the limits of our understanding and embrace the liberating power of
randomness.
Donald Trump isn't a despot. But he is increasingly acting like a
despot's apprentice. Whether it's attacking the press, threatening
the rule of law, or staffing the White House with family members
and cronies, Trump is borrowing moves from the world's dictators.
The president's bizarre adoration of global strongmen has also
transformed US foreign policy into a powerful force cheerleading
some of the world's worst regimes. An expert on authoritarianism,
Brian Klaas is well placed to recognise the warning signs of
tyranny. He argues forcefully that with every autocratic tactic or
tweet, Trump further erodes democratic norms in the world's most
powerful democracy. The Despot's Apprentice is an urgent
exploration of the unique threat that Trump poses to global
democracy-and how to save it from him before it's too late.
'Pertinent!' Margaret Atwood 'Illuminating . . . reveals why some
people and systems are more likely to be corrupted by power than
others' Adam Grant 'Passionate, insightful, and occasionally
jaw-dropping . . . Corruptible sets out the story of the
intoxicating lure of power-and how it has shaped the modern world'
Peter Frankopan 'A brilliant exploration' Dan Snow 'Klaas is the
rarest of finds: a political scientist who can also tell great
stories. He mixes memorable anecdotes with stern analysis to tackle
one of the biggest questions of all: do we have to be ruled by bad
people?' - Peter Pomerantsev Does power corrupt or are corrupt
people drawn to power? Are tyrants the products of bad systems or
are they just bad people? And why do we give power to awful people?
In Corruptible, professor of global politics Brian Klaas draws on
over 500 interviews with some of the world's top leaders - from the
noblest to the dirtiest - including presidents, war criminals, cult
leaders, terrorists, psychopaths, and dictators to reveal the most
surprising workings of power: how children can predict who is going
to win an election based just on the faces of politicians; why
narcissists make more money; what makes a certain species of bee
more corrupt than others; whether a thirst for power is a genetic
condition; and why being the second in command is in fact the
smartest choice. From scans of psychopathic brains, to the effects
of power on monkey drug use, Klaas weaves cutting-edge research
with astonishing encounters (including a ski lesson with the former
viceroy of Iraq, tea with a former UK prime minister, and breakfast
with Madagascar's yogurt kingpin president). Written by the creator
of the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast, Corruptible challenges
our basic assumptions about power, from the board room to the war
room, and provides a roadmap for getting better leaders at every
level.
'Illuminating . . . reveals why some people and systems are more
likely to be corrupted by power than others' - Adam Grant
'Passionate, insightful, and occasionally jaw-dropping . . .
Corruptible sets out the story of the intoxicating lure of
power-and how it has shaped the modern world' - Peter Frankopan 'A
brilliant exploration' - Dan Snow 'Klaas is the rarest of finds: a
political scientist who can also tell great stories. He mixes
memorable anecdotes with stern analysis to tackle one of the
biggest questions of all: do we have to be ruled by bad people?' -
Peter Pomerantsev Does power corrupt or are corrupt people drawn to
power? Are tyrants the products of bad systems or are they just bad
people? And why do we give power to awful people? In Corruptible,
professor of global politics Brian Klaas draws on over 500
interviews with some of the world's top leaders - from the noblest
to the dirtiest - including presidents, war criminals, cult
leaders, terrorists, psychopaths, and dictators to reveal the most
surprising workings of power: how children can predict who is going
to win an election based just on the faces of politicians; why
narcissists make more money; what makes a certain species of bee
more corrupt than others; whether a thirst for power is a genetic
condition; and why being the second in command is in fact the
smartest choice. From scans of psychopathic brains, to the effects
of power on monkey drug use, Klaas weaves cutting-edge research
with astonishing encounters (including a ski lesson with the former
viceroy of Iraq, tea with a former UK prime minister, and breakfast
with Madagascar's yogurt kingpin president). Written by the creator
of the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast, Corruptible challenges
our basic assumptions about power, from the board room to the war
room, and provides a roadmap for getting better leaders at every
level.
For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the world is
steadily becoming less democratic. The true culprits are dictators
and counterfeit democrats. But, argues Klaas, the West is also an
accomplice, inadvertently assaulting pro-democracy forces abroad as
governments in Washington, London and Brussels chase pyrrhic
short-term economic and security victories. Friendly fire from
Western democracies against democracy abroad is too high a price to
pay for a myopic foreign policy that is ultimately making the world
less prosperous, stable and democratic. The Despot's Accomplice
draws on years of extensive interviews on the frontlines of the
global struggle for democracy, from a poetry-reading,
politician-kidnapping general in Madagascar to Islamist torture
victims in Tunisia, Belarusian opposition activists tailed by the
KGB, West African rebels, and tea-sipping members of the Thai
junta. Cumulatively, their stories weave together a tale of a
broken system at the root of democracy's global retreat.
'Pertinent!' Margaret Atwood 'Illuminating . . . reveals why some
people and systems are more likely to be corrupted by power than
others' Adam Grant 'Passionate, insightful, and occasionally
jaw-dropping . . . Corruptible sets out the story of the
intoxicating lure of power-and how it has shaped the modern world'
Peter Frankopan 'A brilliant exploration' Dan Snow 'Klaas is the
rarest of finds: a political scientist who can also tell great
stories. He mixes memorable anecdotes with stern analysis to tackle
one of the biggest questions of all: do we have to be ruled by bad
people?' - Peter Pomerantsev Does power corrupt or are corrupt
people drawn to power? Are tyrants the products of bad systems or
are they just bad people? And why do we give power to awful people?
In Corruptible, professor of global politics Brian Klaas draws on
over 500 interviews with some of the world's top leaders - from the
noblest to the dirtiest - including presidents, war criminals, cult
leaders, terrorists, psychopaths, and dictators to reveal the most
surprising workings of power: how children can predict who is going
to win an election based just on the faces of politicians; why
narcissists make more money; what makes a certain species of bee
more corrupt than others; whether a thirst for power is a genetic
condition; and why being the second in command is in fact the
smartest choice. From scans of psychopathic brains, to the effects
of power on monkey drug use, Klaas weaves cutting-edge research
with astonishing encounters (including a ski lesson with the former
viceroy of Iraq, tea with a former UK prime minister, and breakfast
with Madagascar's yogurt kingpin president). Written by the creator
of the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast, Corruptible challenges
our basic assumptions about power, from the board room to the war
room, and provides a roadmap for getting better leaders at every
level.
An engrossing analysis of the pseudo-democratic methods employed by
despots around the world to retain control Contrary to what is
commonly believed, authoritarian leaders who agree to hold
elections are generally able to remain in power longer than
autocrats who refuse to allow the populace to vote. In this
engaging and provocative book, Nic Cheeseman and Brian Klaas expose
the limitations of national elections as a means of promoting
democratization, and reveal the six essential strategies that
dictators use to undermine the electoral process in order to
guarantee victory for themselves. Based on their firsthand
experiences as election watchers and their hundreds of interviews
with presidents, prime ministers, diplomats, election officials,
and conspirators, Cheeseman and Klaas document instances of
election rigging from Argentina to Zimbabwe, including notable
examples from Brazil, India, Nigeria, Russia, and the United
States-touching on the 2016 election. This eye-opening study offers
a sobering overview of corrupted professional politics, while
providing fertile intellectual ground for the development of new
solutions for protecting democracy from authoritarian subversion.
|
|