MELTDOWN by Chris Clearfield and András Tilcsik (March 20; Penguin Press) provides an intriguing look at "Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It." The authors (a pilot/former derivatives trader and a business professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management), discuss how as systems become increasingly complex and more tightly coupled they are also more prone to failure. In an engaging, readable way they freshen the mid-80s work of social scientist Charles Perrow with many current day examples (an airliner crash, VW emissions scandal, and the Oscars mix-up among others). Another connection I made was to Levine's and Stark's 2015 op-ed on "Diversity Makes you Brighter." MELTDOWN raises awareness of important issues and is likely to appeal especially to fans of writing by Charles Duhigg, Adam Grant and Daniel Pink, all of whom have posted positive review comments. On that side note; mark your calendars: Daniel Pink will be speaking locally in April and I will post those details soon.

Link in live post:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/opinion/diversity-makes-you-brighter.html

I gave this 5 stars because of the shocking insight, research, and ways we're learning more and more on how to avoid "Meltdown."

we rely heavily on computers, but it seems most of catastrophes happen due to human error, like the tool left inside the engine of a plane, scandal at the Oscars, etc. we need more people to speak up if they think they messed up. I enjoyed that part in this book. I commend those individuals. It's a shame that people have died to find out what went wrong and why. Should of been discovered earlier whether it was laziness or cost-cutting. I agree about over-worked nurses. I didn't want to skip any part in this book because I really wanted to learn and actually wanted more, felt like I didn't know about a lot of these things that happened. I was shocked by the ATM, Starbucks, and specially by the way people can hack into those things, cars, really. That's a very scary thought. Another part was about the airplanes at night and relying on people on the ground and their instruments in the cock pit. This book was not at all how I thought it would be and I'm glad I read it because it is an eye-opening book and very well written, the research, just everything. I'm glad there are people who take this seriously and do all they can to fix the problem and do tests to make it a better world for us.

I highly recommend.


Thank you Net Gallery, Authors, and Penguin Press for this copy. Looking forward to reading more like this. Gives to a new prospective. This would make a great documentary if there isn't already one. I just want to grab someone and tell them all about this book.

Cherie'

#netgallery #penguinpress #meltdown