-
Adapt
- Why Success Always Starts with Failure
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $24.47
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Undercover Economist
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Author of the extremely popular "Dear Economist" column in Financial Times, Tim Harford reveals the economics behind everyday phenomena in this highly entertaining and informative book. Can a book about economics be fun to read? It can when Harford takes the reins, using his trademark wit to explain why it costs an arm and a leg to buy a cappuccino and why it's nearly impossible to purchase a decent used car.
-
-
Everyone needs to know this.
- By Paul Norwood on 04-24-06
By: Tim Harford
-
Messy
- The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives celebrates the benefits that messiness has in our lives: why it's important, why we resist it, and why we should embrace it instead. Using research from neuroscience, psychology, and social science as well as captivating examples of real people doing extraordinary things, Tim Harford explains that the human qualities we value - creativity, responsiveness, resilience - are integral to the disorder, confusion, and disarray that produce them.
-
-
I'm a neat freak with three kids...
- By Amazon Customer on 12-13-16
By: Tim Harford
-
The Data Detective
- Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Tim Harford
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today we think statistics are the enemy, numbers used to mislead and confuse us. That’s a mistake, Tim Harford says in The Data Detective. We shouldn’t be suspicious of statistics - we need to understand what they mean and how they can improve our lives: they are, at heart, human behavior seen through the prism of numbers and are often “the only way of grasping much of what is going on around us”.
-
-
I expected more
- By A. Visserman on 03-09-21
By: Tim Harford
-
Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy paints an epic picture of change in an intimate way by telling the stories of the tools, people, and ideas that had far-reaching consequences for all of us. From the plough to artificial intelligence, from Gillette's disposable razor to IKEA's Billy bookcase, best-selling author and Financial Times columnist Tim Harford recounts each invention's own curious, surprising, and memorable story.
-
-
Great book, mediocre narration
- By Kurtis Lindemann on 07-27-21
By: Tim Harford
-
The Undercover Economist Strikes Back
- How to Run - or Ruin - an Economy
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Cameron Stewart, Gavin Osborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A provocative and lively exploration of the increasingly important world of macroeconomics, by the author of the bestselling The Undercover Economist. Thanks to the worldwide financial upheaval, economics is no longer a topic we can ignore. From politicians to hedge-fund managers to middle-class IRA holders, everyone must pay attention to how and why the global economy works the way it does.
-
-
Macroeconomics is hard
- By Noah on 05-11-14
By: Tim Harford
-
Nudge: The Final Edition
- Improving Decisions About Money, Health, and the Environment
- By: Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the original publication of Nudge more than a decade ago, the title has entered the vocabulary of businesspeople, policy makers, engaged citizens, and consumers everywhere. The book has given rise to more than 200 "nudge units" in governments around the world and countless groups of behavioral scientists in every part of the economy. It has taught us how to use thoughtful "choice architecture" - a concept the authors invented - to help us make better decisions for ourselves, our families, and our society.
-
-
Doesn’t include a Pdf of the images the book calls out
- By John O'Connell on 08-03-21
By: Richard H. Thaler, and others
-
The Undercover Economist
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Author of the extremely popular "Dear Economist" column in Financial Times, Tim Harford reveals the economics behind everyday phenomena in this highly entertaining and informative book. Can a book about economics be fun to read? It can when Harford takes the reins, using his trademark wit to explain why it costs an arm and a leg to buy a cappuccino and why it's nearly impossible to purchase a decent used car.
-
-
Everyone needs to know this.
- By Paul Norwood on 04-24-06
By: Tim Harford
-
Messy
- The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives celebrates the benefits that messiness has in our lives: why it's important, why we resist it, and why we should embrace it instead. Using research from neuroscience, psychology, and social science as well as captivating examples of real people doing extraordinary things, Tim Harford explains that the human qualities we value - creativity, responsiveness, resilience - are integral to the disorder, confusion, and disarray that produce them.
-
-
I'm a neat freak with three kids...
- By Amazon Customer on 12-13-16
By: Tim Harford
-
The Data Detective
- Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Tim Harford
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today we think statistics are the enemy, numbers used to mislead and confuse us. That’s a mistake, Tim Harford says in The Data Detective. We shouldn’t be suspicious of statistics - we need to understand what they mean and how they can improve our lives: they are, at heart, human behavior seen through the prism of numbers and are often “the only way of grasping much of what is going on around us”.
-
-
I expected more
- By A. Visserman on 03-09-21
By: Tim Harford
-
Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy paints an epic picture of change in an intimate way by telling the stories of the tools, people, and ideas that had far-reaching consequences for all of us. From the plough to artificial intelligence, from Gillette's disposable razor to IKEA's Billy bookcase, best-selling author and Financial Times columnist Tim Harford recounts each invention's own curious, surprising, and memorable story.
-
-
Great book, mediocre narration
- By Kurtis Lindemann on 07-27-21
By: Tim Harford
-
The Undercover Economist Strikes Back
- How to Run - or Ruin - an Economy
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Cameron Stewart, Gavin Osborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A provocative and lively exploration of the increasingly important world of macroeconomics, by the author of the bestselling The Undercover Economist. Thanks to the worldwide financial upheaval, economics is no longer a topic we can ignore. From politicians to hedge-fund managers to middle-class IRA holders, everyone must pay attention to how and why the global economy works the way it does.
-
-
Macroeconomics is hard
- By Noah on 05-11-14
By: Tim Harford
-
Nudge: The Final Edition
- Improving Decisions About Money, Health, and the Environment
- By: Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the original publication of Nudge more than a decade ago, the title has entered the vocabulary of businesspeople, policy makers, engaged citizens, and consumers everywhere. The book has given rise to more than 200 "nudge units" in governments around the world and countless groups of behavioral scientists in every part of the economy. It has taught us how to use thoughtful "choice architecture" - a concept the authors invented - to help us make better decisions for ourselves, our families, and our society.
-
-
Doesn’t include a Pdf of the images the book calls out
- By John O'Connell on 08-03-21
By: Richard H. Thaler, and others
-
I Hate the Ivy League
- Riffs and Rants on Elite Education
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Gladwell has long relished the opportunity to skewer the upper echelons of higher education, from the institution of U.S. News & World Report’s Best College rankings to the LSATs to the luxe Bowdoin College cafeteria. I Hate the Ivy League: Riffs and Rants on Elite Education, upends the traditional thinking around how education should work and tries to get to the bottom of why we often reward the wrong people.
-
-
repackaged podcasts
- By Bob on 07-15-22
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
Noise
- A Flaw in Human Judgment
- By: Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, the co-author of Nudge, and the author of You Are About to Make a Terrible Mistake! comes Noise, a revolutionary exploration of why people make bad judgments, and how to control both noise and cognitive bias.
-
-
Another masterpiece from Kahneman
- By JDM on 05-21-21
By: Daniel Kahneman, and others
-
The Bomber Mafia
- A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Gladwell, author of New York Times best sellers including Talking to Strangers and host of the podcast Revisionist History, uses original interviews, archival footage, and his trademark insight to weave together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in Central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard. As listeners hear these stories unfurl, Gladwell examines one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.
-
-
Listen to the same story on his podcast for free
- By Dustin on 04-28-21
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
Dereliction of Duty
- Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam
- By: H. R. McMaster
- Narrated by: H. R. McMaster
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dereliction of Duty is a stunning analysis of how and why the United States became involved in an all-out and disastrous war in Southeast Asia. Fully and convincingly researched, based on transcripts and personal accounts of crucial meetings, confrontations, and decisions, it is the only book that fully re-creates what happened and why. McMaster pinpoints the policies and decisions that got the United States into the morass and reveals who made these decisions and the motives behind them, disproving the published theories of other historians and excuses of the participants.
-
-
Rough narration
- By AC Griffin on 12-04-19
By: H. R. McMaster
-
Loonshots
- How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries
- By: Safi Bahcall
- Narrated by: William Dufris, Safi Bahcall - prologue and introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Physicist and entrepreneur Safi Bahcall reveals a surprising new way of thinking about the mysteries of group behavior that challenges everything we thought we knew about nurturing radical breakthroughs. Drawing on the science of phase transitions, Bahcall reveals why teams, companies, or any group with a mission will suddenly change from embracing wild new ideas to rigidly rejecting them.
-
-
The first practical innovation book
- By Andrew C on 04-18-19
By: Safi Bahcall
-
Against the Gods
- The Remarkable Story of Risk
- By: Peter L. Bernstein
- Narrated by: Mike Fraser
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this unique exploration of the role of risk in our society, Peter Bernstein argues that the notion of bringing risk under control is one of the central ideas that distinguishes modern times from the distant past. Against the Gods chronicles the remarkable intellectual adventure that liberated humanity from oracles and soothsayers by means of the powerful tools of risk management that are available to us today. This brand new audio edition of Bernstein's classic work is masterfully narrated by Mike Fraser.
-
-
Glad it finally got here
- By bda31175 on 10-16-21
-
The New New Thing
- A Silicon Valley Story
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Bruce Reizen
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the weird glow of the dying millennium, Michael Lewis sets out on a safari through Silicon Valley to find the world's most important technology entrepreneur, the man who embodies the spirit of the coming age. He finds him in Jim Clark, who is about to create his third, separate, billion-dollar company: first Silicon Graphics, then Netscape - which launched the Information Age - and now Healtheon, a startup that may turn the $1 trillion healthcare industry on its head.
-
-
A fun book about Jim Clark
- By Horace on 07-07-10
By: Michael Lewis
-
Freakonomics
- Revised Edition
- By: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
- Narrated by: Stephen J. Dubner
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives: how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they explore the hidden side of...well, everything. The inner working of a crack gang...the truth about real-estate agents...the secrets of the Klu Klux Klan. What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking, and Freakonomics will redefine the way we view the modern world.
-
-
Good, but be careful
- By Shackleton on 07-03-08
By: Steven D. Levitt, and others
-
Competitive Advantage
- Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance
- By: Michael E. Porter
- Narrated by: Scott R. Pollak
- Length: 21 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The essential complement to the pathbreaking Competitive Strategy, Michael E. Porter's Competitive Advantage explores the underpinnings of competitive advantage in the individual firm. Competitive Advantage introduces a whole new way of understanding what a firm does. Porter's groundbreaking concept of the value chain disaggregates a company into "activities", or the discrete functions or processes that represent the elemental building blocks of competitive advantage.
-
-
Thumbs Up!
- By Bill Gallagher on 05-21-19
-
Zero to One
- Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
- By: Peter Thiel, Blake Masters
- Narrated by: Blake Masters
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won't create a social network. If you are copying these guys, you aren't learning from them. It's easier to copy a model than to make something new: doing what we already know how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But every time we create something new, we go from 0 to 1.
-
-
Seems Insightful Until You Think A Little Deeper
- By Mark Brandon on 10-31-14
By: Peter Thiel, and others
-
The Tipping Point
- How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discover Malcolm Gladwell's breakthrough debut and explore the science behind viral trends in business, marketing, and human behavior. The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate.
-
-
Exciting narrative with great vingettes
- By Gary on 06-16-12
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
The Power of Habit
- Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
- By: Charles Duhigg
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Power of Habit, award-winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble to the sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential.
-
-
Nice! A guide on how to change
- By Mehra on 04-22-12
By: Charles Duhigg
Publisher's Summary
In this groundbreaking work, Tim Harford shows us a new and inspiring approach to solving the most pressing problems in our lives. Harford argues that today’s challenges simply cannot be tackled with ready-made solutions and expert opinions; the world has become far too unpredictable and profoundly complex. Instead, we must adapt. Deftly weaving together psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, physics, and economics, along with compelling stories of hard-won lessons learned in the field, Harford makes a passionate case for the importance of adaptive trial-and-error in tackling issues such as climate change, poverty, and the financial crisis.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about Adapt
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lawrence
- 05-20-13
Hidden Agenda
Would you try another book from Tim Harford and/or Jonathan Keeble?
Possibly, first half of book was full of great examples and approaches but second half became too much of a political statement for Carbon tax and did not follow throught with the main theme as much as the first half.
Would you recommend Adapt to your friends? Why or why not?
Only as a casual read and but stop at Carbon Tax section. You got 90% of the book at that point
How could the performance have been better?
Narrator needs to narrate. There was absolutely no need for alternate voices or a performance. Took away from the narration too much, were not that good and as an audible book his accent was often difficult to pick up on key words requiring a slight rewind at times.
Did Adapt inspire you to do anything?
One key point was made in the beginning that has resonated with me. The decision you make after a bad decision (or result) is often more damaging than the original. Excellent point in everything from golf to realtionships to business.
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joshua Kim
- 06-10-12
Will Prove Influential
Adapt will be an influential book. I read lots of terrific books, and Harford's latest is certainly terrific, but very few books make a long-term difference in how we think. Thaler and Sunstein's Nudge, Ariely's Predictably Irrational, Taleb's The Black Swan, and Wu's Master Switch are all influential books. They all creep into conversations, inform policy choices, underlie institutional strategies, and shape careers.
One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from John Maynard Keynes:
“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”
(Note: when Keynes was around, the ed tech profession did not yet exist, but if it did I think we would have been included amongst "economists and political philosophers").
Ideas rule the world. And books are the way that ideas take shape and spread. Therefore, books rule the world.
Adapt may get you thinking about your ability to adapt. Accept that you will fail, that your institution, your company, your department and your division will fail. What matters is how we learn from failure. Harford builds his theory of adaptation and failure by telling stories.
How did the U.S. Army turn the Iraq war around? (Short story … by Colonels on the ground risking careers by defying their civilian and military bosses, and engaging in counter-insurgent tactics). How have successful companies, from Google to Whole Foods, to W.L. Gore drive innovation and profits? (Answer: by creating non-hierarchical cultures that push authority and accountability to the edges).
All this may seem like familiar ground, and some of it has been well covered in Schulz's marvelous Being Wrong and Watt's Everything is Obvious (among others), but Harford brings these threads together into a clear set of ideas that are actionable in our professional lives and organizations.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dan Kelly
- 06-17-17
It's not what you think!
What would have made Adapt better?
Just like Anti-fragile, it's not about personal development. And, it doesn't contain any useful information.
It's a bunch of stories of failure and mistakes, with "they should have adapted" at the end.
What was most disappointing about Tim Harford’s story?
The lack of aplicable information to my daily life.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
If you like hearing stories of failure, with no actionable information or even anecdotes, then there are many of those.
Any additional comments?
Skip it.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- A. Yoshida
- 08-30-16
Success comes from trial and error
The book is based on one idea - success often comes from trial and error. There are anecdotes covering a wide range - business, healthcare, and charity work. At Google, employees are given time to experiment with new ideas. Although 80% of these ideas don't pan out, the 20% earns them huge profits. The book starts off slow and there is a chapter on military failures. I suggest starting on Chapter 3 where it has more relevance and then coming back to those chapters. There are also anecdotes about placing safeguards in the right places so that failures aren't disastrous. This is useful advice for industries like nuclear power generation and oil extraction.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alice
- 05-03-14
Tell the Brits to stop attempting American accents
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Interesting ideas expressed well.
What did you like best about this story?
Variety of examples.
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
Especially since this is non-fiction I dearly wish the (British) narrator had not attempted an American accent for any quote from an American. He does the usual things Brits do when (poorly) imitating Americans, for example very hard Rs and super flat "a" sound.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Probably not. Lots of ideas and history. One could, though, especially on a long drive or other trip.
Any additional comments?
Overall I like the narration. I am a half-Brit and Anglophile so I enjoy the basic British accent. He keeps the story moving and interesting. The writing is good, but it is non-fiction so it helps to have a good story-teller keeping it lively and supporting the writing.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sean M. Ryan
- 09-14-21
Might be better if you buy the book instead
I couldn't get past chapter 3. The voice in the book makes it hard to understand. The actual points being made have a lot of interesting facts however I should of read more of the reviews before making the purchase. Going to request a refund on this credit.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- chris boutte
- 07-25-21
Great book on why failure is good
Tim Harford is a gift to the realm of non-fiction writing, and I fell in love with his work after reading his most recent book, The Data Detective. So many of us are averse to failure, but it’s one of the most important things we can experience. I’m a former drug addict who managed to make just about every mistake you can imagine by my 20s, but my life changed when I learned to adapt and learn from them. Today, not only do I fail, but I embrace failure, and my life has never been better. In this book, Harford explains why failure is so beneficial, and he combines both scientific research as well as a wide range of stories. By the time you finish this book, you’ll learn the benefits of experimenting, curiosity, self-compassion, and failure. This was a fantastic read, and I look forward to reading my next book from Tim Harford.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gustavo Medina Tanco
- 06-28-20
Accents.... fffffff
I would have given 5 stars were not for the annoying imitation of accents. Why do they have to do such a theatrical and discriminatory parody. Irritating and plainly insulting.
Otherwise a very nice book.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ann Victory
- 11-25-19
Already changing my life
Why do rules always have unintended consequences? How does someone always find the loophole? And what do we do about it? Things are always changing and we have to build society to cope or improve in the setting of constant change. This book explains it.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Hansbro
- 05-20-17
Why and how to take risk (multi-disciplinary).
Includes examples from nature, military, industry, and entertainment. Convincing argument delivered by an excellent performance.