As things get bigger, it's not just the scale that changes. Something else fundamental changes too. Working for a small company is not the same as working in a big multinational; their whole way of doing things is different. Governments make decisions that seem nonsensical to individuals. The death of one person is a tragedy: the death of a million is a statistic. When you change the scale of something, more of the same thing ends up being different. Paracelsus, the medieval alchemist, put it like this: 'Substances are not poisonous, dosages are.' Friedrich Engels put it more precisely: 'a quantitative change, sooner or later, becomes a qualitative one.' A popular bumper sticker makes the point more succinctly: 'You are not stuck in traffic; you are traffic.' The anomie of the modern world is caused by massive changes in scale without the requisite changes in attitudes, institutions and social mechanisms. There is confusion between hierarchical levels. Perception has become reality. There has been no easy way to express these themes - these disorders of magnitude - in a single word. Until now, that is... Catataxis, a neologism from the Greek for 'level confusion', explains why many of today's problems are caused by using yesterday's tools in an inappropriately scaled modern context. Disparate issues such as celebrity culture, banking regulation, global warming, the war on terror, soaring CEO's salaries, internet security, unrepresentative democracy, spin doctors and political correctness can all be linked to a single underlying concept: more of the same is different.
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'A first rate intellect, a creative thinker, and someone who has a gift for simplifying complex problems and communicating these insights in an effective manner to a wide audience.' --Tim Moe, Chief Asian Strategist, Goldman Sachs
'Catataxis got me thinking so hard I bled out the ears, and I mean that in the best way ... This book is better than brilliant, it makes you that way.' --P J O'Rourke
'Catataxis got me thinking so hard I bled out the ears, and I mean that in the best way ... This book is better than brilliant, it makes you that way.' --P J O'Rourke
About the Author
John Brodie Donald grew up in Beijing in the middle of the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. After graduating with a degree in Engineering Science, he started as an equities analyst in the City in the early 1980s, where he covered the first technology boom driven by the invention of the PC. He was working as a director of an investment bank in Tokyo when the Japanese Stock Market spectacularly burst in 1990. After many years running equity research departments in the Far East and Europe, he finally left the financial services industry to run his own Scotch whisky company. He now works as a commercial mediator and as an adviser with Partner Capital. He writes a blog: www.catataxis.com
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Alex
Format:Hardcover
I cannot recall the last time I read something that changed the way I view the world quite so profoundly. John Donald's book is brilliant both for its simplicity and the sheer range of its subject matter. In history, politics, financial markets and nature, qualitative changes occur as size and numbers grow, until eventually things change fundamentally. You truly will see the world in a different way after reading this extraordinary book. I'm a great PJ O'Rourke fan, so any book he describes as 'better than brilliant' comes with high expectations, in this case more than fulfilled. Highly recommended.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By UltimateSki
Format:Hardcover
Putting concepts into context is never easy, especially when those concepts leap from level to level like the elements of an atom. Can something be in two places simultaneously at the same time? This book, if not proof of quantum theory, is evidence that being in two places at the same time intellectually is not only a good idea, it's actually necessary. Well written and genuinely thought provoking, this book answers many questions but invites you to come up with your own. I have no doubt that you will read elements of it over and over again. When did you last buy a book as an investment?
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Patrick S
Format:Hardcover
A very enjoyable read and a very special book. There are more ideas on every few pages than many others have in the whole book. It's like a whirlwind of interesting stuff, all linked together by one underlying theme: that more of the same is different. It's not a new idea - everybody knows proverbs like "two's company, three's a crowd" or " can't see the wood from the trees". But like a jazz musician taking a simple tune and then improvising on it, the author takes you on a scenic journey that encompasses biology, finance, politics, media, physics, art and government. At the end, you are left stimulated, educated and looking at the world in a different light
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A pleasure to read, with a simple yet important theory at its core
I really enjoyed this book - the writing style is light, and at times humorous - important when dealing with a potentially sticky, heavy theory. Read more
Published 14 months ago by John A
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, informative, and stimulating
The central idea of the book is that if you examine a forest through the same lens as you contemplate a single tree (or vice versa), you are likely to miss, or fail to understand,... Read more
Published 17 months ago by QM
4.0 out of 5 stars
More of the same is different
This is a really interesting book. The central idea is that you can't look at the world in a linear way, and there are many examples of how more of the same leads to a leap on to... Read more
Published 17 months ago by kola
5.0 out of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this one....
A great book. A big idea put across in a very readable style. It also gave me a lot to think about. I now see examples of catataxis all around me, even on the train to work...
Published 18 months ago by Peter M
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Tour d'Horizon and a Tour de Force
I thoroughly recommend this book. Its central thesis is illuminating but the book covers an immensely broad range of topics and the author does't make the mistake of trying to... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Martin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely not going mad
People say that the definition of insanity is "doing the same thing day in, day out and each day expecting that the outcome the following day will be different". Read more
Published 18 months ago by jimmykp
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