Adapt

"Adapt is a highly readable, even entertaining, argument against top-down design. It debunks the Soviet-Harvard command-and-control style of planning and approach to economic policies and regulations and vindicates trial and error (particularly the error part) as a means to economic and general progress. Very impressive!"—Nassim N. Taleb, Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering, New York University-Poly Institute and author of The Black Swan

"Harford's basic lesson is you have to design your life to make effective use of failures. You have to design systems of trial and error, or to use a natural word, evolution . . . Harford is an economic journalist, so he doesn't get into the psychological and spiritual traits you need to live with error and look it in the face, but he offers a very useful guide for people preparing to live in the world as it really is."—David Brooks, The New York Times

"Brainy . . . Harford has a knack for making complicated ideas sound simple."—James Pressley, Bloomberg News

"Tim Harford's terrific new book urges us to understand profit from our muddling . . . Harford is a gifted writer whose prose courses swiftly and pleasurably. He has assembled a powerful combination of anecdotes and data to make a serious point: companies, governments and people must recognize the limits of their wisdom and embrace the muddling of mankind."—Edward Glaeser, Financial Times

"Harford's case histories are well chosen and artfully told, making the book a delight to read. But its value is greater than that. Strand by strand, it weaves the stories into a philosophical web that is neat, fascinating and brilliant . . . It advances the subject as well as conveying it, drawing intriguing conclusions about how to run companies, armies and research labs."—Matt Ridley, Nature

"One of the best writers who also happens to be an economist."—Stephen Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics and Super Freakonomics

"Like Black Swan author Nassim Taleb—or, or for that matter, like Leo Tolstoy—Harford thinks that the world is bigger than any individual mind . . . Essential."—The Boston Globe

"This is a brilliant and fascinating book—Harford's range of research is both impressive and inspiring, and his conclusions are provocative. The message about the need to accept failure has important implications, not just for policy making but also for people's professional and personal lives. It should be required reading for anyone serving in government, working at a company, trying to build a career or simply trying to navigate an increasingly complex world."—Gillian Tett, author of Fool's Gold: The Inside Story of J.P. Morgan and How Wall St. Greed Corrupted Its Bold Dream and Created a Financial Catastrophe

"Harford's wide-ranging look at social adaptation is fresh, creative, and timely."—Sheena Iyengar, author of The Art of Choosing

"Tim Harford has made a compelling and expertly informed case for why we need to embrace risk, failure, and experimentation in order to find great ideas that will change the world. I loved the book." —Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational and The Upside of Irrationality

"Tim Harford could well be Britain's Malcolm Gladwell. An entertaining mix of popular economics and psychology, this excellently written book contains fascinating stories of success and failure that will challenge your assumptions. Insightful and clever."—Alex Bellos, author of Here's Looking at Euclid: A Surprising Excursion Through the Astonishing World of Math

"A message that we sorely need . . . Adapt is more than just a chronicle of failure. It's a chronicle of success."—Forbes