Fluke

Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters

By: Brian Klaas

Narrated by: Brian Klaas

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Want to know what chaos theory can teach us about human events? 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.

©2024 Brian Klaas (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Not bad —but I was hoping for mote

There are some good parts to this book, but the premise drags out and there are some baseline assumptions — like Darwinism — that are asserted as truth and not explored.

Glad I read it but not my highest recommendation.

Everything you do, matters

Brian‘s ability to use storytelling to convey complex matters is just fantastic! Start to finish… Bravo! 

The surprise of combining lack of control with a new level of freedom adventure and joy

Great
Only thing he misses is the grace we receive when we acknowledge our lack of control. And surrender to the larger adventure of an infinite game of choosing to be useful. Allowing spirit to make art with our life.

Great read

A good way to add more context to all the rest we know and, or study. The element of , we don't really, really knows is very important to keep in mind.

Fun chaos storybook.

I really enjoyed this book. As a farmer and audiobook producer I can say that it is both accurate and preformed well with only a few mispronounced words and slip ups. Kudos to the author and engineer for a job well done.

That so much coincided with my own Life Experience was intriguing.

The width and depth of the research that Klaas brought to the examples he used to buttress his arguments was astounding. The tapestry of ideas that he wove was not only entertaining but so well executed that it enlightened and inspired this Reader to see the World in a whole new way.

I was concerned in the Final Chapters that he was going to instruct us to build a Spreadsheet for our Lives and was tremendously relieved when he introduced us to Lucretius and Butterflies instead. Five Stars. *****

A book that gives you a lot to think about.

I don’t know what’s wrong with the guy who gave this book a 1 star review. I found it informative and definitely thought provoking. I’ve been relaying a lot of it to my adult daughters. There was so much I recommended they buy it themselves.

Chaos and Randomness Explored

Entire Body of work was eye opening engaging, insightful, educational, inspirational, and life changing.
very well thought out and great job simplifying the research aspect of social science and academia.

Uñbèlievaɓle facts about things I thought I knew a lot about, which make history infinitely more facinating

A page turner. It's a wonder so many things turn out as well as they do.

Thought provoking

Interesting take on social science and alternative explanations to major incidents. Leaves you wondering what do you really know and understand.