About the book: 2023 / In his new book, the famous historian Niall Ferguson gives an overview of a variety of disasters that have occurred in human history: geological, geopolitical, biological, technological. It looks at the causes and consequences of specific disasters, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and more generally at how people and societies respond to and try to predict disasters. Drawing on several scientific disciplines, including economics, cliodynamics and network science, Ferguson writes not only history, but also a general theory of disasters, and shows why our increasingly bureaucratic and complex systems of government are increasingly unable to cope with them..