All systems break down

Some bounce back, others do not. This is a book about why. RESILIENCE is a dazzling exposition of fresh thinking about how the world works. It covers business, economic, geographic and social systems in a thrillingly readable narrative. A wealth of absorbing examples are covered, from the link between US oil prices and the recent ''tortilla riots'' in Mexico to what was really happening when the US government decided not to bail out Lehman Bros.

RESILIENCE introduces completely new ideas, such as ''flipping'' which is when a systems has been pulled out of shape so often it changes forever. The thinking in RESILIENCE has crucial implications for how to understand the world in which we live.