11 Smart Books: Our Latest Staff Picks

Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It

Author: Joshua Cooper Ramo
Reviewed by: Anne Kadet, Senior Writer, SmartMoney

Geostrategic advisor and former Time editor Joshua Cooper Ramo says we've entered a super-scary era marked by unprecedented risk and unpredictability. Even worse, lumbering Western nations are stuck on a worn-out approach to problem-solving that aggravates crises. Rather than dealing with the chaos, we approach this new world order as if it's a big game of pool, where logical strategies bring predictable outcomes. Among the results: economic meltdown, environmental disaster and a bungled war in Iraq. In his search for alternatives, Ramos explores people and organizations that seem to thrive amid chaos. This is the fun part of the book: We meet venture capitalists, terrorists, hackers, videogame designers and a South African doctor successfully treating AIDS. Unfortunately, the supposedly "revolutionary" approaches that Ramo distills from his excursions tend toward the sort of vague generalities one encounters in an introductory meditation seminar. And his policy recommendations (universal health care, more education spending) are depressingly familiar. Read it for the stories, not the solutions.