In this very readable book Klaas takes us through theories that may shift the way you think about the world. It starts quite heavily with a tale about how the target for the first atomic bomb was chosen, and with a personal story from the author’s own family, involving a horrible mass murder, without which he wouldn’t exist. This idea that everything that’s happened before leads us to where we are now is repeated throughout, possibly leaving the reader to struggle with a sense that they have no control over the events of their own life, while simultaneously having a huge impact on the world around us and the events of both our own and other people’s lives.
Klaas references the idea of the ‘Garden of the Forking Paths’, as explored in Jorge Luis Borges’ story of the same name. In it, the thought is that each step we take opens some routes and closes others to us. Similarly, other people’s decisions may also be closing off possibilities for us which we will never know about. Klaas recounts some incredible stories where people’s actions change the course of another’s life, from a lost toy at sea saving someone’s life, to the simple gift of a tie doing the same. Klaas’ argument is that these things aren’t actually as rare and unlikely as we imagine, that because of the nature of how events unfold it is inevitable that these flukes of luck will happen.
On the topic of luck, he also explores the idea of genius, and the misconception that those who are most wealthy should also be the most intelligent or hard working, where in fact the number of extremely intelligent people is so small that the likelihood is that the ultra-wealthy will more often than not come from the mass of people with middle level intelligence. He points to the fact there is a lot of luck involved in being very successful.
If you’re feeling a little disheartened and insignificant from this line of thinking, rest assured that Klaas also believes that the person carrying out the actions are important. He gives the example of Charles Darwin. He came up with the theory of evolution around the same time as Alfred Russel Wallace was exploring similar ideas. Not only was there some chance involved in Darwin being on the Beagle, allowing him to have the experiences he needed to develop his ideas, but Klaas believes it’s possible that if Wallace had published the ideas he may not have been taken seriously for a number of reasons. Yes, it is often true that inventions and new ideas are developed by multiple people almost simultaneously, but Klaas’ argument is that it is contingent on who it is that shares their findings to have them accepted and popularised.
Toward the end of the book Klaas also looks inward at the study of social sciences and discusses the problems inherent in research. Ten different researchers can be carrying out experiments on a particular hypothesis, but only the one whose results prove it are likely to publish, thus ignoring the failed attempts of others and giving a skewed version of reality. Even when results are peer reviewed and validated, repeating them and gaining the same results can be challenging. Further still, he discusses a study which showed that if you give the same data to many groups of researchers the way they work with the data will mean that different conclusions are drawn.
An interesting book with plenty of fascinating examples of the strangeness of life. Even as a lay reader some of the anecdotes and studies were familiar, but a refresher is no bad thing. It didn’t completely blow my mind or change the way I think about life but it did make me think. A very accessible look at some big, complex ideas.
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