Fluke

Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters

By: Brian Klaas

Narrated by: Brian Klaas

This “captivating illustration of the follies of trying to model and forecast the unpredictable world” (Financial Times) is both “empowering” (The New Statesman, UK) and “compelling” (New Scientist) as it challenges our most fundamental assumptions—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?

In Fluke, myth-shattering social scientist Brian Klaas takes a deep-dive into the phenomenon of random chance and the chaos it can sow, taking aim at most people’s neat and tidy 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

Another outstanding book from Klaas!

The author’s ability to break down complex theories into digestible pieces and his evident love for humanity make this a compelling read (listen).

Makes you think...

Makes you think how an action today was impacted by an action yesterday and how it will impact tomorrow's acttions.

This book should be listed as fiction

In Brian Klaas’s book *Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters*, the character “Motu Camorra” is presented as having significant historical impact within the narrative. However, there is no evidence outside of Klaas’s book to support that Motu Camorra is a real historical figure. It appears that Camorra is a fictional creation used by Klaas to illustrate his points about randomness and its profound effects on history and human events. This raises a critical question: if Klaas’s thesis about the role of chance in shaping history is compelling, why does he resort to fabricating a historical figure to support it? This approach risks undermining the book’s credibility by blurring the line between fact and fiction.

The "What If"and the "What Is" book.

The book was referred to my by a trusted person. The author packed so many concepts,iIt was almost too hard to catch it all in a single read. So splitting up the chapters to leave time to reflect and ponder did help me get thru it. I noticed the wonderful references to where he got some of his information was a delightful change to the so called plagiarism that is allowed these days, that I notice in this "it's all about me" culture. Thank you Brian Klaas for being a breath of fresh air in polluted existence that is called "SOCIETY"

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.

Very nice and interesting!

Very well narrated and is a great tool for making life choices. Author's story is well balanced.

Mixed Feelings

I’ve got mixed feelings. I absolutely buy into the main premise of the book and learned quite a bit. I even appreciate the authors style. However, if you are skeptical about the theory of evolution, you will find about half of the book unconvincing. You could say that we agree solidly on the conclusion (life is random, we know less than we think), but disagree on why.

Everything you do, matters

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

For everyone, everywhere, in every time...

...everything could have been different. This is a great book, since it so mirrors what I have been telling any friends over the years willing to listen. He even uses some of the same metaphors and phrasing I rely on. And the chapter on determinism (12) puts "flukes" in the context of cause & effect. There is no such thing as an uncaused effect - flukes are what we call those events/happenings for which we don't know all the causes that produced them.

thought provoking

lots of ideas, well articulated
didn't love tbe evolution angle so much but overall quite enjoyable