The Unthinkable -- Take 2

I'm a little surprised to announce that I found The Unthinkable fascinating and easy to listen to.  I'm not sure why that's surprising; maybe it was the product of some unfortunate marketing which made it seem a little too fluffy.  But it's actually a very interesting and understandable look at response to disaster, expressed through countless anecdotes and interviews.

The author researched events and conducted interviews on events big and small but (sadly) common: 9/11, various tsunamis, Hurricane Katrina, hostage crises, school shootings, maritime accidents, airplane crashes and near-misses, police shootings (or near shootings), "crowd crush," et cetera.  She highlights three primary responses to disaster: panic (which is less common than you'd think); paralysis (the most common); and heroism (which takes a certain type of person, and usually training).  The various responses people exhibit, and the reasons for their behavior in these situations - is interesting in the extreme.

Mostly we're talking "soft science" here: psychology, sociology, behavioral economics, and the like.  But there is some biology thrown in there too, as well as a fair amount of common sense.

On the whole, nothing you learn is groundbreaking, but the obviousness of it is part of why it kept my attention.  These things seem so clear when someone says it, but unless someone says it, you never really stop to think about it.  So, all in all, an enjoyable and informative book.

As a brief discussion of format, I mentioned earlier that I was listening to the audio version of this book.  But unlike Room, which I listened to on CD in my car, I listened to The Unthinkable on my iPod.  And you know what the genius of that is?  You can speed up the playback.  So from now on, all CDs are being uploaded into iTunes.  Just one more way the digital world is taking over my life.