The Brain is Wider Than the Sky: Why Simple Solutions Don't Work in a Complex World
A clarion call against dumbing-down in modern society by one of our most eminent journalists
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Full details for this title
| Interest Age |
Young Adults |
| Reading Age |
Young Adults |
| NBS Text |
Popular Science |
| ONIX Text |
General/trade |
|
| Number of Pages |
288 |
| Dimensions |
Width: 159mm
Height: 240mm
Spine: 26mm |
| Weight |
520g |
|
| Dewey Code |
500 |
| Catalogue Code |
232559 |
Description of this Book
In an era where information is so readily available that everyday society is bombarded on all fronts and almost overwhelmed by the sheer scale of it all, we are fast becoming a society that strives for simplicity - and one ruled by an anti-intellectual, celebrity-driven culture. Bryan Appleyard argues that the complex should be embraced, not dissected. He uses his experience and expertise as a cultural journalist to disconnect and to distinguish between the complicated and the complex. The acceptance of complexity, he reasons, and the subsequent simplification of the complicated, in science, business and daily life, is necessary to achieve the Good Life. Told through anecdotes and drawing on interviews with key social and business figures such as Bill Gates, the Dalai Lama and Stephen Hawking, Appleyard takes the reader on a dazzling personal journey, and gets to the heart of the science of complexity. From the baby-boomer belief in simplicity to a growing understanding of the sustaining power of complexity, the readers' eyes are opened to the possibility that we are, in fact, complexly made to be complex.
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Awards & Reviews
| NZ Review |
As readers have come to expect from Bryan Appleyard, his new book is another literate and sensitive reflection on how science is changing our self-understanding. -- Steve Fuller The Literary Review |
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Author's Bio
Bryan Appleyard is a special feature writer and columnist for the SUNDAY TIMES. He has also written for VANITY FAIR, THE NEW YORK TIMES and THE SPECTATOR. He is a three-time Feature Writer of the Year award winner and twice has been commended in the British Press Awards.
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