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Title details for Fluke by Brian Klaas - Available

Fluke

Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters

by Brian Klaas
Brian Klaas
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
2 of 2 copies available
This "captivating illustration of the follies of trying to model and forecast the unpredictable world" (Financial Times) is both "empowering" (The New Statesman, UK) and "compelling" (New Scientist) as it challenges our most fundamental assumptions—by social scientist and Atlantic writer Brian Klaas, whom Prospect magazine has named one of the world's "Top 25 Thinkers."
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?

In Fluke, myth-shattering social scientist Brian Klaas takes a deep-dive into the phenomenon of random chance and the chaos it can sow, taking aim at most people's neat and tidy 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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    January 23, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781797172323
      • File size: 256515 KB
      • Duration: 08:54:24

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      In this philosophical but accessible audiobook, social scientist Brian Klass explains how individual actions fit into the chaotic chain of events that determine what happens in the world. He narrates with pitch and phrasing variations that make these arresting ideas fun to hear. He says the random incidents that can cause world wars or lead to huge life changes are interconnected--but not in the way we think. With our minds wired to think that large events have simple causes, we overlook the cumulative force of numerous random events and the power of the daily decisions we make. This riveting audiobook will make listeners think more realistically about their day-to-day actions and their inescapable place in the web of causes that make the world what it is. T.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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