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Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe
- Author
- Niall Ferguson
- Narrator
- Niall Ferguson
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date
- 6 May 2021
- Run Time
- 16 hours 36 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
Disasters are inherently hard to predict. But when catastrophe strikes, we ought to be better prepared than the Romans were when Vesuvius erupted or medieval Italians when the Black Death struck. We have science on our side, after all. Yet the responses of many developed countries to a new pathogen from China were badly bungled. Why?
While populist rulers certainly performed poorly in the face of the pandemic, Niall Ferguson argues that more profound pathologies were at work - pathologies already visible in our responses to earlier disasters.
Drawing from multiple disciplines, including economics and network science, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe offers not just a history but a general theory of disaster. As Ferguson shows, governments must learn to become less bureaucratic and more "antifragile" if we are to avoid the impending doom of irreversible decline.
© Niall Ferguson 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021
Critics Review
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Magisterial reach ... immensely readable ... Ferguson [applies] his prodigious intellect to placing the present pandemic on a wider historic canvas.
Financial Times
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This is not just about a virus but a collision of politics, panic, digital media, human behaviour and incompetence. Niall Ferguson's Doom looks at each of these aspects, putting them into historical perspective in a book of dazzling range and rigour.
The Spectator
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Niall Ferguson's Doom is often insightful, productively provocative and downright brilliant.
New York Times
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A superb history of the lost art of handling a crisis.
The Telegraph
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Stimulating ... Each chapter of this thought-provoking book is worth reading for the ideas, perceptiveness and well-told stories of landmark events ... It's a useful reminder that what may feel like having unprecedented restrictions imposed on our lives today is nothing new... readers will find much to relish.
Evening Standard
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Elegant, pacey, gripping ... a wealth of deep research.
The Economist
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Doom covers an impressive sweep of history at a lively narrative clip and weaves a lot of disparate strands together into an engaging picture.
The Guardian
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Timely and refreshing ... An informative, amusing and thought-provoking read that is full of steadying good sense for these troubled times.
South China Morning Post
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Performs a crucial public service ... Doom is far more than just a page-turner, though that it certainly is: it's that most precious of things in a history book - an account of the past that truly helps us understand where we are today.
CapX
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Details
- Author
- Niall Ferguson
- Narrator
- Niall Ferguson
- Duration
- 16 hours 36 minutes
- Release Date
- 6 May 2021
- ISBN
- 9780241510674
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Genre
- Political science and theory, Constitution: government and the state, Social impact of disasters / accidents (natural or man-made), History: plagues, diseases, famines, General and world history, Political economy
Synopsis
Brought to you by Penguin. Disasters are inherently hard to predict. But when catastrophe strikes, we ought to be better prepared than the Romans were when Vesuvius erupted or medieval Italians when the Black Death struck. We have science on our side, after all. Yet the responses of many developed countries to a new pathogen from China were badly bungled. Why?While populist rulers certainly performed poorly in the face of the pandemic, Niall Ferguson argues that more profound pathologies were at work - pathologies already visible in our responses to earlier disasters.Drawing from multiple disciplines, including economics and network science, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe offers not just a history but a general theory of disaster. As Ferguson shows, governments must learn to become less bureaucratic and more "antifragile" if we are to avoid the impending doom of irreversible decline.© Niall Ferguson 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021
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