What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies

· Wait But Why
4.7
54 reviews
Ebook
512
Pages
Eligible
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About this ebook

From the creator of the wildly popular blog Wait But Why, a fun and fascinating deep dive into what the hell is going on in our strange, unprecedented modern times.

Between 2013 and 2016, Tim Urban became one of the world’s most popular bloggers, writing dozens of viral, long-form articles about everything from AI to colonizing Mars to procrastination. Then, he turned his attention to a new topic: the society around him. Why was everything such a mess? Why was everyone acting like such a baby? When did things get so tribal? Why do humans do this stuff?

This massive topic sent Tim tumbling down his deepest rabbit hole yet, through mountains of history, evolutionary psychology, political theory, neuroscience, and modern-day political movements, as he tried to figure out the answer to a simple question: What’s our problem?

Six years later, he emerged from the hole holding this book. What’s Our Problem? is a deep and expansive analysis of our modern times, in the classic style of Wait But Why, packed with original concepts, sticky metaphors, and 300 drawings. The book provides an entirely new framework and language for thinking and talking about today’s complex world. Instead of focusing on the usual left-center-right horizontal political axis, which is all about what we think, the book introduces a vertical axis that explores how we think, as individuals and as groups. Readers will find themselves on a delightful and fascinating journey that will ultimately change the way they see the world around them.

Anyway he wanted to say a lot more about all of this but there was a word limit on this book description so just go read the book.

Ratings and reviews

4.7
54 reviews
Jan Doggen
March 11, 2023
Bummer. I thought I'd buy and download the .epub and then read it whenever/wherever I want, but buying it through Google I'm now stuck in some 'read it online or get our reader app' construction. How do I get the file in my hands that I just paid 16+ Euros for?
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Joe Sasson
March 12, 2023
The only book I ever read that clearly lays out most of the fundamental ideas that modern society is based on. It's done in a very fun and simple way. With characters like the "Golem", the "Attorney", etc. to make the ideas easy to grasp. It also illustrates the dangers we are facing as a society from both the right and the left. If you are a fan of waitbutwhy/Tim Urban, you will definitely love this book. If not, you will love it too 😆
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David Nelson
November 28, 2023
This is a phenomenal book. Tim discusses important ideas in an entertaining and unbiased way. I wish everyone in the world would, reserve judgement, read this book, then discuss it with a stranger. I know. It's a big ask.
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About the author

Tim Urban is the writer/illustrator and co-founder of Wait But Why, a long-form, stick-figure-illustrated blog about almost everything with over half a million subscribers. He has produced dozens of viral articles on a wide range of topics, from artificial intelligence to social anxiety to humans becoming a multi-planetary species. Tim's 2016 TED main stage talk was the first TED video to ever reach 10 million views in its first year and now ranks in the top five most-watched TED talks.

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