
The Unaccountability Machine
Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions - and How The World Lost its Mind
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $18.15
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Peter Dickson
-
By:
-
Dan Davies
About this listen
'A corporation, or a government department isn't a conscious being, but it is an artificial intelligence. It has the capability to take decisions which are completely distinct from the intentions of any of the people who compose it. And under stressful conditions, it can go stark raving mad.'
When we avoid taking a decision, what happens to it? In The Unaccountability Machine, Dan Davies examines why markets, institutions and even governments systematically generate outcomes that everyone involved claims not to want. He casts new light on the writing of Stafford Beer, a legendary economist who argued in the 1950s that we should regard organisations as artificial intelligences, capable of taking decisions that are distinct from the intentions of their members.
Management cybernetics was Beer's science of applying self-regulation in organisational settings, but it was largely ignored - with the result being the political and economic crises that that we see today. With his signature blend of cynicism and journalistic rigour, Davies looks at what's gone wrong, and what might have been, had the world listened to Stafford Beer when it had the chance.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Lying for Money
- How Legendary Frauds Reveal the Workings of the World
- By: Dan Davies
- Narrated by: Tim Paige
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The way most white-collar crime works is by manipulating institutional psychology. That means creating something that looks as much as possible like a normal set of transactions. The drama comes later, when it all unwinds. Financial crime seems horribly complicated, but there are only so many ways you can con someone out of what’s theirs.
-
-
Very interesting book!
- By Ebong Eka on 02-21-22
By: Dan Davies
-
The Eurasian Century
- Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern Century
- By: Hal Brands
- Narrated by: Tim Fannon
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hal Brands argues that a better understanding of Eurasia's strategic geography can illuminate the contours of rivalry and conflict in today's world. The Eurasian Century explains how revolutions in technology and warfare, and the rise of toxic ideologies of conquest, made Eurasia the center of twentieth-century geopolitics—with pressing implications for the struggles that will define the twenty-first.
-
-
Worth the read.
- By Chip Eckert on 02-24-25
By: Hal Brands
-
Boom
- Bubbles and the End of Stagnation
- By: Byrne Hobart, Tobias Huber
- Narrated by: Rob Grannis
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A timely investigation of the causes of technological and scientific stagnation, and a radical blueprint for accelerating innovation. From the Moon landing to the dawning of the atomic age, the decades prior to the 1970s were characterized by the routine invention of transformative technologies at breakneck speed. By comparison, ours is an age of stagnation. Median wage growth has slowed, inequality and income concentration are on the rise, and scientific research has become increasingly expensive and incremental.
-
-
Interesting perspective
- By Brent D Brookbush on 02-24-25
By: Byrne Hobart, and others
-
The AI Mirror
- How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking
- By: Shannon Vallor
- Narrated by: Kim Niemi
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shannon Vallor makes a wide-ranging, prophetic, and philosophical case for what AI could be: a way to reclaim our human potential for moral and intellectual growth, rather than lose ourselves in mirrors of the past. Rejecting prophecies of doom, she encourages us to pursue technology that helps us recover our sense of the possible, and with it the confidence and courage to repair a broken world. Vallor calls us to rethink what AI is and can be, and what we want to be with it.
-
-
Timely But Incomplete
- By Amazon Customer on 12-30-24
By: Shannon Vallor
-
Pronoun Trouble
- The Story of Us in Seven Little Words
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his trademark humor and flair, bestselling linguist John McWhorter busts the myths and shares the history of the most controversial language topic of our times: pronouns.
-
-
another great offering
- By ktxexa. Dfgg on 04-12-25
By: John McWhorter
-
Abundance
- By: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Narrated by: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all.
-
-
Advice to the Democratic Party from Klein & Thompson
- By Betsy Fowler on 03-31-25
By: Ezra Klein, and others
-
Lying for Money
- How Legendary Frauds Reveal the Workings of the World
- By: Dan Davies
- Narrated by: Tim Paige
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The way most white-collar crime works is by manipulating institutional psychology. That means creating something that looks as much as possible like a normal set of transactions. The drama comes later, when it all unwinds. Financial crime seems horribly complicated, but there are only so many ways you can con someone out of what’s theirs.
-
-
Very interesting book!
- By Ebong Eka on 02-21-22
By: Dan Davies
-
The Eurasian Century
- Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern Century
- By: Hal Brands
- Narrated by: Tim Fannon
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hal Brands argues that a better understanding of Eurasia's strategic geography can illuminate the contours of rivalry and conflict in today's world. The Eurasian Century explains how revolutions in technology and warfare, and the rise of toxic ideologies of conquest, made Eurasia the center of twentieth-century geopolitics—with pressing implications for the struggles that will define the twenty-first.
-
-
Worth the read.
- By Chip Eckert on 02-24-25
By: Hal Brands
-
Boom
- Bubbles and the End of Stagnation
- By: Byrne Hobart, Tobias Huber
- Narrated by: Rob Grannis
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A timely investigation of the causes of technological and scientific stagnation, and a radical blueprint for accelerating innovation. From the Moon landing to the dawning of the atomic age, the decades prior to the 1970s were characterized by the routine invention of transformative technologies at breakneck speed. By comparison, ours is an age of stagnation. Median wage growth has slowed, inequality and income concentration are on the rise, and scientific research has become increasingly expensive and incremental.
-
-
Interesting perspective
- By Brent D Brookbush on 02-24-25
By: Byrne Hobart, and others
-
The AI Mirror
- How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking
- By: Shannon Vallor
- Narrated by: Kim Niemi
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shannon Vallor makes a wide-ranging, prophetic, and philosophical case for what AI could be: a way to reclaim our human potential for moral and intellectual growth, rather than lose ourselves in mirrors of the past. Rejecting prophecies of doom, she encourages us to pursue technology that helps us recover our sense of the possible, and with it the confidence and courage to repair a broken world. Vallor calls us to rethink what AI is and can be, and what we want to be with it.
-
-
Timely But Incomplete
- By Amazon Customer on 12-30-24
By: Shannon Vallor
-
Pronoun Trouble
- The Story of Us in Seven Little Words
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his trademark humor and flair, bestselling linguist John McWhorter busts the myths and shares the history of the most controversial language topic of our times: pronouns.
-
-
another great offering
- By ktxexa. Dfgg on 04-12-25
By: John McWhorter
-
Abundance
- By: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Narrated by: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all.
-
-
Advice to the Democratic Party from Klein & Thompson
- By Betsy Fowler on 03-31-25
By: Ezra Klein, and others
-
Making Sense of Chaos
- A Better Economics for a Better World
- By: J. Doyne Farmer
- Narrated by: J. Doyne Farmer
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many books have been written about J. Doyne Farmer and his work, but this is the first in his own words. It presents a manifesto for how to do economics better. In this tale of science and ideas, Farmer fuses his profound knowledge and expertise with stories from his life to explain how we can bring a scientific revolution to bear on the economic conundrums facing society.
-
-
A Very Important Book and a Great Story of Perseverence
- By Amazon Customer on 02-20-25
By: J. Doyne Farmer
-
The Technological Republic
- Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West
- By: Alexander C. Karp, Nicholas W. Zamiska
- Narrated by: Nicholas W. Zamiska
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this groundbreaking treatise, Palantir co-founder and CEO Alexander C. Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska offer a searing critique of our collective abandonment of ambition, arguing that in order for the U.S. and its allies to retain their global edge—and preserve the freedoms we take for granted—the software industry must renew its commitment to addressing our most urgent challenges, including the new arms race of artificial intelligence. The government, in turn, must embrace the most effective features of the engineering mindset that has propelled Silicon Valley’s success.
-
-
Premise no longer applicable
- By Marion B. McGovern on 02-28-25
By: Alexander C. Karp, and others
-
Tribal
- How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together
- By: Michael Morris
- Narrated by: Michael Morris
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tribalism is our most misunderstood buzzword. We’ve all heard pundits bemoan its rise, and it’s been blamed for everything from political polarization to workplace discrimination. But as acclaimed cultural psychologist and Columbia professor Michael Morris argues, our tribal instincts are humanity’s secret weapon. Ours is the only species that lives in tribes: groups glued together by their distinctive cultures that can grow to a scale far beyond clans and bands. Morris argues that our psychology is wired by evolution in three distinctive ways.
-
-
Well educated, institutionally, but otherwise naive
- By Zirrus on 12-14-24
By: Michael Morris
-
Murder the Truth
- Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful
- By: David Enrich
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Enrich, the New York Times Business Investigations Editor and the #1 bestselling author of Dark Towers, produces his most consequential and far-reaching investigation yet: an in-depth exposé of the broad campaign—orchestrated by elite Americans—to silence dissent and protect the powerful.
-
-
The current threat against journalists
- By Kirk Writes on 04-04-25
By: David Enrich
-
Why Nothing Works
- Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back
- By: Marc J. Dunkelman
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America was once a country that did big things—we built the world’s greatest rail network, a vast electrical grid, interstate highways, abundant housing, the Social Security system, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and more. But today, even while facing a host of pressing challenges—a housing shortage, a climate crisis, a dilapidated infrastructure—we feel stuck, unable to move the needle. Why?
-
-
More historical than practical
- By Eric on 05-04-25
-
Money, Lies, and God
- Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy
- By: Katherine Stewart
- Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why have so many Americans turned against democracy? In this deeply reported book, Katherine Stewart takes us to conferences of conspiracy-mongers, backroom strategy gatherings, and services at extremist churches, and profiles the people who want to tear it all down.
-
-
Describes a well funded international fascist cult
- By marwalk on 03-24-25
-
World Eaters
- How Venture Capital Is Cannibalizing the Economy
- By: Catherine Bracy
- Narrated by: Catherine Bracy
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The venture capital playbook is causing unique harms to society. And in World Eaters, Catherine Bracy offers a window into the pernicious aspects of VC and shows us how its bad practices are bleeding into all industries, undermining the labor and housing markets and posing unique dangers to the economy at large. VC’s creates a wide, powerful wake that impacts the average consumer just as much as it does investors and entrepreneurs.
-
-
Going down the VC rabbit hole
- By Mike on 05-05-25
By: Catherine Bracy
-
Obvious Adams
- By: Robert Rawls Updegraff
- Narrated by: Andrew Morantz
- Length: 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A lone man sat at a table by a window in the Dickens Room of the Tip Top Inn, Chicago. He had finished his dinner and was apparently waiting for his black coffee to be served. Two men entered and were shown to a table nearby. Presently one of them glanced at the man by the window. "See that man over there?" he whispered to his companion. "Yes," said the latter, looking disinterestedly in the direction indicated. "Well, that is Obvious Adams."
-
-
A powerful reminder that there is no sexy quick fix.
- By Patrick C. on 04-27-24
-
The Embarrassment of Riches
- An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age
- By: Simon Schama
- Narrated by: Mike Cooper
- Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Simon Schama explores the mysterious contradictions of the Dutch nation that invented itself from the ground up, attained an unprecedented level of affluence, and lived in constant dread of being corrupted by happiness. Drawing on a vast array of period documents and sumptuously reproduced art, Schama recreates in precise detail a nation's mental state. He tells of bloody uprisings and beached whales, of the cult of hygiene and the plague of tobacco, of thrifty housewives and profligate tulip-speculators.
-
-
Great!
- By Noe on 12-05-24
By: Simon Schama
-
Underground Empire
- How America Weaponized the World Economy
- By: Henry Farrell, Abraham Newman
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A deeply researched investigation that reveals how the United States is like a spider at the heart of an international web of surveillance and control, which it weaves in the form of globe-spanning networks such as fiber optic cables and obscure payment systems.
-
-
Good summary
- By Medz on 01-28-25
By: Henry Farrell, and others
-
City of Fortune
- How Venice Rule the Seas
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The rise and fall of the Venetian empire stands unrivaled for drama, intrigue, and sheer opulent majesty. In City of Fortune, Roger Crowley, acclaimed historian and New York Times bestselling author of Empires of the Sea, applies his narrative skill to chronicling the astounding five-hundred-year voyage of Venice to the pinnacle of power.
-
-
A Wonderful Listen
- By Scot on 06-12-14
By: Roger Crowley
-
Open Socrates
- The Case for a Philosophical Life
- By: Agnes Callard
- Narrated by: Agnes Callard
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Socrates has been hiding in plain sight. We call him the father of Western philosophy, but what exactly are his philosophical views? He is famous for his humility, but readers often find him arrogant and condescending. We parrot his claim that “the unexamined life is not worth living,” yet take no steps to live examined ones. In Open Socrates, acclaimed philosopher Agnes Callard recovers the radical move at the center of Socrates’ thought, and shows why it is still the way to a good life.
-
-
An opposite of hell
- By Anonymous User on 04-17-25
By: Agnes Callard
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Lying for Money
- How Legendary Frauds Reveal the Workings of the World
- By: Dan Davies
- Narrated by: Tim Paige
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The way most white-collar crime works is by manipulating institutional psychology. That means creating something that looks as much as possible like a normal set of transactions. The drama comes later, when it all unwinds. Financial crime seems horribly complicated, but there are only so many ways you can con someone out of what’s theirs.
-
-
Very interesting book!
- By Ebong Eka on 02-21-22
By: Dan Davies
-
The Corporation in the 21st Century
- Why (Almost) Everything We Are Told About Business Is Wrong
- By: John Kay
- Narrated by: Peter Wicks
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Kay's incisive overhaul of our ideas about business redefines our understanding of successful commercial activity and the corporation—and describes how we have come to "love the product" as we "hate the producer." This is a brilliant and original work from one of the greatest economists.
By: John Kay
-
Recoding America
- Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better
- By: Jennifer Pahlka
- Narrated by: Jennifer Pahlka
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bold call to reexamine how our government operates—and sometimes fails to—from President Obama’s former deputy chief technology officer and the founder of Code for America.
-
-
Very good, minimally partisan.
- By 95Rb35 on 11-25-23
By: Jennifer Pahlka
-
How the World Became Rich
- The Historical Origins of Economic Growth
- By: Mark Koyama, Jared Rubin
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin dive into the many theories of why modern economic growth happened when and where it did. They discuss recently advanced theories rooted in geography, politics, culture, demography, and colonialism. Pieces of each of these theories help explain key events on the path to modern riches. Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in eighteenth-century Britain? Why did some European countries, the United States, and Japan catch up in the nineteenth century? Why did it take until the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries for other countries?
-
-
Nice and insightful
- By Marina on 10-22-24
By: Mark Koyama, and others
-
The Great Accounting Frauds
- The Common Theme That Runs Through All Of Them
- By: Joe McGuire
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When it comes to major crime, many of us know the stories of the most notorious bank robbers and jewel thieves. But what if I told you that some of these stories wouldn't put a dent in the money stolen in some of the biggest accounting frauds of all time? However, there is much less information available on these major crimes despite the large sums of money involved and the intriguing story behind them. That is, until now. Introducing The Great Accounting Frauds, a must-read for anyone interested in learning more about these highly complex and fascinating crimes and the common theme that ...
By: Joe McGuire
-
Why Nothing Works
- Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back
- By: Marc J. Dunkelman
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America was once a country that did big things—we built the world’s greatest rail network, a vast electrical grid, interstate highways, abundant housing, the Social Security system, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and more. But today, even while facing a host of pressing challenges—a housing shortage, a climate crisis, a dilapidated infrastructure—we feel stuck, unable to move the needle. Why?
-
-
More historical than practical
- By Eric on 05-04-25
-
Lying for Money
- How Legendary Frauds Reveal the Workings of the World
- By: Dan Davies
- Narrated by: Tim Paige
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The way most white-collar crime works is by manipulating institutional psychology. That means creating something that looks as much as possible like a normal set of transactions. The drama comes later, when it all unwinds. Financial crime seems horribly complicated, but there are only so many ways you can con someone out of what’s theirs.
-
-
Very interesting book!
- By Ebong Eka on 02-21-22
By: Dan Davies
-
The Corporation in the 21st Century
- Why (Almost) Everything We Are Told About Business Is Wrong
- By: John Kay
- Narrated by: Peter Wicks
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Kay's incisive overhaul of our ideas about business redefines our understanding of successful commercial activity and the corporation—and describes how we have come to "love the product" as we "hate the producer." This is a brilliant and original work from one of the greatest economists.
By: John Kay
-
Recoding America
- Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better
- By: Jennifer Pahlka
- Narrated by: Jennifer Pahlka
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bold call to reexamine how our government operates—and sometimes fails to—from President Obama’s former deputy chief technology officer and the founder of Code for America.
-
-
Very good, minimally partisan.
- By 95Rb35 on 11-25-23
By: Jennifer Pahlka
-
How the World Became Rich
- The Historical Origins of Economic Growth
- By: Mark Koyama, Jared Rubin
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin dive into the many theories of why modern economic growth happened when and where it did. They discuss recently advanced theories rooted in geography, politics, culture, demography, and colonialism. Pieces of each of these theories help explain key events on the path to modern riches. Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in eighteenth-century Britain? Why did some European countries, the United States, and Japan catch up in the nineteenth century? Why did it take until the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries for other countries?
-
-
Nice and insightful
- By Marina on 10-22-24
By: Mark Koyama, and others
-
The Great Accounting Frauds
- The Common Theme That Runs Through All Of Them
- By: Joe McGuire
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When it comes to major crime, many of us know the stories of the most notorious bank robbers and jewel thieves. But what if I told you that some of these stories wouldn't put a dent in the money stolen in some of the biggest accounting frauds of all time? However, there is much less information available on these major crimes despite the large sums of money involved and the intriguing story behind them. That is, until now. Introducing The Great Accounting Frauds, a must-read for anyone interested in learning more about these highly complex and fascinating crimes and the common theme that ...
By: Joe McGuire
-
Why Nothing Works
- Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back
- By: Marc J. Dunkelman
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America was once a country that did big things—we built the world’s greatest rail network, a vast electrical grid, interstate highways, abundant housing, the Social Security system, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and more. But today, even while facing a host of pressing challenges—a housing shortage, a climate crisis, a dilapidated infrastructure—we feel stuck, unable to move the needle. Why?
-
-
More historical than practical
- By Eric on 05-04-25
-
Tyranny, Inc.
- How Private Power Crushed American Liberty—and What to Do About It
- By: Sohrab Ahmari
- Narrated by: Sohrab Ahmari
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the past two generations, U.S. leaders deregulated big business on the faith that it would yield a better economy and a freer society. But the opposite happened. Americans lost stable, well-paying jobs, Wall Street dominated industry to the detriment of the middle class and local communities, and corporations began to subject us to total surveillance, even dictating what we are, and aren’t, allowed to think. The corporate titans and mega-donors who aligned themselves with this vision knew exactly what they were getting: perfect conditions for what Sohrab Ahmari calls “private tyranny”.
-
-
Doesn't address the whole picture
- By Penelope M on 09-18-23
By: Sohrab Ahmari
-
The Longevity Imperative
- How to Build a Healthier and More Productive Society to Support Our Longer Lives
- By: Andrew J. Scott
- Narrated by: Michael Chance
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thanks to increases in life expectancy, we can now expect to live for a long time. Most of us would welcome an extra day in the week, so why do so many of us view the prospect of additional years with fear and skepticism? The reason is simple: society is not currently structured to support long lives. Rather than thinking in terms of the needs of a rising number of older people, we must instead support the young and middle-aged to prepare differently for the longer futures they can expect.
By: Andrew J. Scott
-
Growth
- A History and a Reckoning
- By: Daniel Susskind
- Narrated by: Daniel Susskind
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yet prosperity has come at a price: environmental destruction, desolation of local cultures, the rise of vast inequalities, and destabilizing technologies. Faced with such damage, many now claim that the only way forward is through "degrowth," deliberately shrinking our economic footprint. Instead, Daniel Susskind argues, we must keep growth but redirect it, making it better reflect what we truly value.
-
-
Looking for a conclusion that will sell books
- By DCS on 10-05-24
By: Daniel Susskind
-
The Brompton
- Engineering for Change
- By: William Butler-Adams, Dan Davies
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lightweight, compact, distinctively styled, and now, electric: The Brompton isn't the only folding bicycle—or even the first. But everyone who has been on one will enthusiastically testify to its marvelous design (virtually unchanged over decades) and the particular joy of riding it. Will Butler-Adams, CEO of Brompton Bicycles, has been at the company for twenty years. Initially, he worked as an engineer for Andrew Ritchie, the bike's brilliant inventor and the business's founder, before taking the helm in 2008.
-
-
Hard to say which I like better—The Bike or the Company
- By Jason Sooter on 01-28-24
By: William Butler-Adams, and others
-
A New Way to Think
- Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness
- By: Roger L. Martin
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over a stellar career, Roger Martin has advised the CEOs of some of the world's most successful companies. From the beginning, he noted that almost every executive he talked to had a "model"—a framework or way of thinking that guided their strategy and activities. But these models tended to become automatic, so much so that when one didn't work, the typical response was just to apply it again—with greater enthusiasm.
-
-
Okay… a lot of people culture from the early 2010’s
- By Thammy M. on 06-03-23
By: Roger L. Martin
-
Hacking the Unconscious
- By: Rory Sutherland
- Narrated by: Rory Sutherland
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Advertising guru Rory Sutherland is a world-leading proponent of behavioural economics. In Hacking the Unconscious, he looks at how this emerging science is used by marketers to influence us and challenges us to reassess which ideas we hold dear.
-
-
Don't bother if you listed to Alchemy
- By Dumitrita on 09-02-23
By: Rory Sutherland
-
The Age of Wonder
- How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
- By: Richard Holmes
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 21 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When young Joseph Banks stepped onto a Tahitian beach in 1769, he hoped to discover Paradise. Inspired by the scientific ferment sweeping through Britain, the botanist had sailed with Captain Cook in search of new worlds. Other voyages of discovery—astronomical, chemical, poetical, philosophical—swiftly follow in Richard Holmes's thrilling evocation of the second scientific revolution.
-
-
Misleading title
- By Diane on 08-04-11
By: Richard Holmes
-
Underground Empire
- How America Weaponized the World Economy
- By: Henry Farrell, Abraham Newman
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A deeply researched investigation that reveals how the United States is like a spider at the heart of an international web of surveillance and control, which it weaves in the form of globe-spanning networks such as fiber optic cables and obscure payment systems.
-
-
Good summary
- By Medz on 01-28-25
By: Henry Farrell, and others
-
How China Escaped the Poverty Trap
- By: Yuen Yuen Ang
- Narrated by: Catherine Ho
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How can poor and weak societies escape poverty traps? Political economists have traditionally offered three answers: "stimulate growth first," "build good institutions first," or "some fortunate nations inherited good institutions that led to growth." Yuen Yuen Ang rejects all three schools of thought and their underlying assumptions: linear causation, a mechanistic worldview, and historical determinism. Instead, she launches a new paradigm grounded in complex adaptive systems, which embraces the reality of interdependence and humanity's capacity to innovate.
-
-
In-depth, but slightly "academic"
- By Amazon Customer on 02-17-25
By: Yuen Yuen Ang
-
Why War?
- By: Richard Overy
- Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why has war been such a consistent presence throughout the human past? A leading historian explains, drawing on rich examples and keen insight. Richard Overy is not the first scholar to take up the title question. In 1931, at the request of the League of Nations, Albert Einstein asked Sigmund Freud to collaborate on a short work examining whether there was "a way of delivering mankind from the menace of war." Published the next year as a pamphlet entitled Why War?, it conveyed Freud's conclusion that the "death drive" made any deliverance impossible.
-
-
War is Peace
- By Anonymous User on 01-23-25
By: Richard Overy
-
Left Adrift
- What Happened to Liberal Politics
- By: Timothy Shenk
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Politics today doesn’t look much like it did fifty years ago. Electorates that were once divided by economics—with blue-collar workers supporting leftwing parties while the wealthy trended right—are now more likely to split along cultural lines. Campaigns have gone high-tech, hoping to turn electioneering into a science. Meanwhile, a permanent class of political consultants has emerged, with teams of pollsters, message gurus, and field operatives. Taken together, all this amounts to a silent revolution that has transformed politics across much of the globe.
By: Timothy Shenk
-
Default
- The Landmark Court Battle over Argentina's $100 Billion Debt Restructuring
- By: Gregory Makoff, Lee C. Buchheit - foreword
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Default is the riveting story of Argentina's sovereign debt drama, which reveals the obscure inner workings of sovereign debt restructuring. This detailed case study describes the intense fight over the role of the IMF in Argentina's 2005 debt restructuring and the ensuing bitter decade of litigation with holdout creditors, demonstrating that outcomes for sovereign debt are determined by a complex interplay between financial markets, governments, the IMF, the press, and the courts.
-
-
Delivers on promise
- By Lukk on 06-28-24
By: Gregory Makoff, and others
What listeners say about The Unaccountability Machine
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 04-12-25
Illuminating.
Dan Davies weaves a convincing, human story, with measured mercy for the typical bad actors. Instead, he navigates evolving economics, politics, psychology and cybernetics to offer a compelling frame of our times.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!