
What's Our Problem?
A Self-Help Book for Societies
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Narrated by:
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Tim Urban
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By:
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Tim Urban
About this listen
From the creator of the wildly popular blog Wait but Why, a fun and fascinating deep dive into what the hell is going on in our strange, unprecedented modern times.
Between 2013 and 2016, Tim Urban became one of the world’s most popular bloggers, writing dozens of viral long-form articles about everything from AI to colonizing Mars to procrastination. Then, he turned his attention to a new topic: the society around him. Why was everything such a mess? Why was everyone acting like such a baby? When did things get so tribal? Why do humans do this stuff?
This massive topic sent Tim tumbling down his deepest rabbit hole yet, through mountains of history, evolutionary psychology, political theory, neuroscience, and modern-day political movements, as he tried to figure out the answer to a simple question: What’s our problem?
Six years later, he emerged from the hole with this book. Narrated by the author, What’s Our Problem? is a deep and expansive analysis of our modern times, in the classic style of Wait but Why, packed with original concepts and sticky metaphors. The book provides an entirely new framework and language for thinking and talking about today’s complex world. Instead of focusing on the usual left-center-right horizontal political axis, which is all about what we think, the book introduces a vertical axis that explores how we think, as individuals and as groups. Listeners will find themselves on a delightful and fascinating journey that will ultimately change the way they see the world around them.
Anyway, he wanted to say a lot more about all of this, but there was a word limit on this book description, so just go listen to the book.
©2023 Tim Urban (P)2023 Tim UrbanListeners also enjoyed...
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Accompanying PDF has chapter summaries
- By JOHN B SHRADER on 02-07-25
By: Dan Heath
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Fooled by Randomness
- The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
- By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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This audiobook is about luck, or more precisely, how we perceive and deal with luck in life and business. It is already a landmark work, and its title has entered our vocabulary. In its second edition, Fooled by Randomness is now a cornerstone for anyone interested in random outcomes.
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Pass on this one and read The Black Swan
- By Wade T. Brooks on 06-25-12
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Four Thousand Weeks
- Time Management for Mortals
- By: Oliver Burkeman
- Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon.
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Make TIME for this one...
- By Ethan Babbage on 08-12-21
By: Oliver Burkeman
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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
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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?
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A fine contribution to the abundance discourse, but lacking in solutions
- By Squalid on 05-08-25
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Nexus
- A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
- By: Yuval Noah Harari
- Narrated by: Vidish Athavale
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions, and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI—a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive? Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world.
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Painfully boring
- By 80s Kid on 09-18-24
First!
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A centrist manifesto in a world of extremism
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Eye-opening
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Great book about the zeitgeist
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Our society needs this book
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Incisive insight in a digestible format
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I think the narrative may have been too long, but I almost hesitate to say that because some of the more difficult aspects of the book needed considerable care and detail in order to make their points. I would love it if he could supervise the production of a condensed version of this, because I think that its length might be a barrier to other readers. I think he said it was in the order of 120,000 words. Wow!
I think that more people need the opportunity to consider these issues in a thoughtful way, not in a rage state of mind.
One comment I have is that his use of unfamiliar labels (like golem) challenged my flow to try to remember how those concepts were relevant in a given sentence. I understand that he needed shorthand, but at least in my case it formed a bit of a barrier to understanding.
It must have been difficult to write about the topics in this book, navigating a minefield of triggers. I know that this must have added length, to bring out topics with enough care to avoid persistently triggering people every few pages (or paragraphs). Overall, in my opinion, Tim's points were well considered and well made.
this was a thoughtful analysis of a hard topic
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Well reasoned and researched
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Thank You
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Tim narrating?
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