Preview
  • Sludge

  • What Stops Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do About It
  • By: Cass R. Sunstein
  • Narrated by: Asa Siegel
  • Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (14 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Sludge

By: Cass R. Sunstein
Narrated by: Asa Siegel
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $11.17

Buy for $11.17

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

How we became so burdened by red tape and unnecessary paperwork, and why we must do better.

We've all had to fight our way through administrative sludge-filling out complicated online forms, mailing in paperwork, standing in line at the motor vehicle registry. This kind of red tape is a nuisance, but, as Cass Sunstein shows in Sludge, it can also also impair health, reduce growth, entrench poverty, and exacerbate inequality. Confronted by sludge, people just give up-and lose a promised outcome: a visa, a job, a permit, an educational opportunity, necessary medical help. In this lively and entertaining look at the terribleness of sludge, Sunstein explains what we can do to reduce it.

Because of sludge, Sunstein, explains, too many people don't receive benefits to which they are entitled. Sludge even prevents many people from exercising their constitutional rights-when, for example, barriers to voting in an election are too high. Sunstein takes listeners on a tour of the not-so-wonderful world of sludge, describes justifications for certain kinds of sludge, and proposes "Sludge Audits" as a way to measure the effects of sludge. On balance, Sunstein argues, sludge infringes on human dignity, making people feel that their time and even their lives don't matter. We must do better.

©2021 Cass R. Sunstein (P)2022 Tantor
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Sludge

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Nice annex to Nudge

Nice annex to Nudge but way too short and shallow for a stand alone book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Hugely disappointing!

The author is political in the extreme.

Yes there are plenty of unnecessary “sludge”, but to argue for simplification of voting enrollment at the same time America’s border is wide open is an invitation to abuse and to undermine the integrity of elections.
And this is just one example of this books excessive politicization of its subject.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Just read nudge

This adds nothing more to nudge and is rather a 3-4 hour long opinion piece about a few examples of sludge with hyper focus on a narrow few. Overall the book had much more potential than it actually achieved.

Not bad but just read nudge over sludge

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!