The Watchman's Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction

Rebecca Costa provides us in "The Watchman's Rattle" an interesting take on complexity in our modern world. Essentially, she suggests that change is moving at an ever faster rate and complexity of daily problems are exceeding our cognitive ability to deal with them. We react to our limited ability to address such problems and knowledge of these circumstances in two ways. First, we tend to yield to the advice of experts and decisions of government. Second, we resort to "irrational opposition'' to circumstances which we do not understand or rather do not have adequate knowledge to deal with. This little book has many beneficial insights for anyone who approaches it. I found issues were reiterated and approached in different ways throughout the book. I hope that she will continue to expand on the ideas generated here. The writing is clear and approachable, the book informative and thought provoking, and the narration excellent throughout.

Insightful look into what causes people to take the wrong action/s, even when there is a ton of lead time to prepare. Some good ideas on how to avoid repeating these errors, as well as how to amp up your cerebral activity.

the ideas are well conceived and well expressed

the optimism was both held to reason and sincere

no

the science is at times sketchy and not well documented, a little bit more hype than science

Not only would I listen again, I plan to. There was so much interesting information in this book I was just blown away. The writing was very good and the content was eye opening and insightful. By the description the book sounded interesting but depressing. My mom highly recommended it and I'm glad I took her advice.

I might compare it to

Hmm, that's interesting, I don't remember a man reading on this book. The performance was fine but I was occasionally annoyed by the woman's voice when she adjusted it to read a man's quote.

yes. If only there were time.

Go get this book.

Insightful and thought provoking reality check. The comparisons and behaviors in the societies and studies discussed seem futuristic yet so simple. And are here today.... And I though it was just me....

The book seemed interesting at first sight, but I did not listen very far. What I heard was verbose and rather uninteresting despite the subject's potential; judging from the opening chapter, the book would have profited from a draconian pruning by a good editor. This is aggravated by Therese Plummer's emphatic way of reading: she seems to be trying hard to make phrases and sentences more significant than they are. I found it very irritating. (I can't say anything about the other reader, Kevin Collins).
My impression is a young writer who wants to say something important but lacks maturity and mastery of her subject, and who sorely needs the services of a professional editor. Perhaps I am unfair since I listened to very little of this long book, and I might have a different opinion had I been reading instead of listening (I would have skimmed it and perhaps discovered riches). But I found the audiobook unlistenable and cannot recommend it to anyone. This said, I don't want to keep anyone from a book whose contents I still don't know, but I suggest you at least have a look at the printed book first.