The Watchman's Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction (Unabridged)
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3.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $21.99
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
Why can't we solve our problems anymore? Why do threats such as the Gulf oil spill, worldwide recession, terrorism, and global warming suddenly seem unstoppable? Are there limits to the kinds of problems humans can solve?
Rebecca Costa confronts - and offers a solution to - these questions in her highly anticipated and game-changing book, The Watchman's Rattle. She pulls headlines from today's news to demonstrate how accelerating complexity quickly outpaces that rate at which the human brain can develop new capabilities.
With compelling evidence based on research in the rise and fall of the Mayan, Khmer, and Roman empires, Costa shows how the tendency to find a quick solution leads to a frightening long-term consequence: society's ability to solve its most challenging, intractable problems becomes gridlocked, progress slows, and collapse ensues.
A provocative new voice in the tradition of thought leaders Thomas Friedman, Jared Diamond, and Malcolm Gladwell, Costa reveals how we can reverse the downward spiral. Part history, part social science, part biology, The Watchman's Rattle is sure to provoke, engage, and incite change.
Customer Reviews
Must Read
Possibly the most important work I have read in five years. Her study of man's reliance on a balance between fact and belief in decision making, alone, is worth the time to read and think about this book.
The historical background on prior civilizations and how they failed is fascinating as was her discussion of insight.
The fact that she can and does show potential solutions and a feeling of optimism made me happy to have read this.
It read more like a novel in most sections but was in fact a highly educational work of non fiction.
I have given copies to friends and without exception they are thankful that I have.
You owe it to yourself to read and retread this book.