Apocalypse How?
Technology and the Threat of Disaster
Published on 4. March 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-78649-688-1 (ISBN)
Description
'Entertaining and insightful' -- Evening Standard
'One of the most important books of the year... Compelling' Jamie Bartlett, Literary Review
'Timely' -- New Statesman
As the world becomes better connected and we grow ever more dependent on technology, the risks to our infrastructure are multiplying. Whether it's a hostile state striking the national grid (like Russia did with Ukraine in 2016) or a freak solar storm, our systems have become so interlinked that if one part goes down the rest topple like dominoes.
In this groundbreaking book, former government minister Oliver Letwin looks ten years into the future and imagines a UK in which the national grid has collapsed. Reliant on the internet, automated electric cars, voice-over IP, GPS, and the internet of things, law and order would disintegrate. Taking us from high-level government meetings to elderly citizens waiting in vain for their carers, this book is a wake up call for why we should question our unshakeable faith in technology. But it's much more than that: Letwin uses his vast experience in government to outline how businesses and government should respond to catastrophic black swan events that seem distant and implausible - until they occur.
'One of the most important books of the year... Compelling' Jamie Bartlett, Literary Review
'Timely' -- New Statesman
As the world becomes better connected and we grow ever more dependent on technology, the risks to our infrastructure are multiplying. Whether it's a hostile state striking the national grid (like Russia did with Ukraine in 2016) or a freak solar storm, our systems have become so interlinked that if one part goes down the rest topple like dominoes.
In this groundbreaking book, former government minister Oliver Letwin looks ten years into the future and imagines a UK in which the national grid has collapsed. Reliant on the internet, automated electric cars, voice-over IP, GPS, and the internet of things, law and order would disintegrate. Taking us from high-level government meetings to elderly citizens waiting in vain for their carers, this book is a wake up call for why we should question our unshakeable faith in technology. But it's much more than that: Letwin uses his vast experience in government to outline how businesses and government should respond to catastrophic black swan events that seem distant and implausible - until they occur.
Reviews / Votes
Entertaining and insightful... The picture [Letwin] paints is bleak as he uses chapters that alternate between a fictional depiction of chaotic meltdown in the year 2037 and analysis of the real-life causes to show why such disaster could occur. * Evening Standard * One of the most important books of the year... compelling * Jamie Bartlett, Literary Review * Timely... it provides an insight into the mindsets that prevent politicians and civil servants from properly preparing for catastrophes. * New Statesman * A vivid and engaging account of how the risks inherent in our increasing dependence on technology could someday coalesce into a perfect storm with disastrous consequences. Apocalypse How? reads like a dystopian thriller, but makes it clear that the dangers are very real. * Martin Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Rise of the Robots * A vital guide for anyone in business or government who wants to know how to respond when apparently distant and implausible events strike home. * Prospect * Masterful, disturbing and informed, Letwin takes us to the abyss - to a society paralysed by the total failure of its interconnected power and communications networks. His contingency plans should be mandatory reading. * Professor Richard Susskind OBE, Chair of Advisory Board, Oxford Internet Institute * From severe floods and accelerating climate change to cyber-attacks and space weather, there is a whole series of threats that could bring a modern country to a standstill. Oliver Letwin spent more time than any minister in recent history trying to understand, prevent and combat the unexpected disasters that could engulf a modern government. * David Cameron *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
249 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78649-688-1 (9781786496881)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Oliver Letwin
Apocalypse How?
'One of the most important books of the year... Compelling' Jamie Bartlett
E-Book
03/2020
Atlantic Books
€8.49
Available for download
Person
Sir Oliver Letwin was MP for West Dorset from 1997 to 2019. He has been an academic at Cambridge and Princeton universities, an investment banker and a cabinet minister at the top of the UK Government. For six years he was a member of the National Security Council as the minister with responsibility for the UK's national resilience. He lives in West Dorset and London.
Content
0: Prologue 1: Could it happen? 2: The Cabinet Office 3: The social impact of black-swan events 4: Out in the darkness 5: Fragility and resilience 6: A difficult choice 7: Myths and realities 8: For whom the bell tolls 9: The global perspective