Bookreview: "Doom - the great disasters of the past and some lessons for the future" Niall Ferguson 1. edition 2021

Niall Ferguson is a historian and has been a professor at Havard University and Havard Business School. He has also taught at Oxford University, Stanford University, and the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is considered a specialist in financial, economic, and European history.

This book is not a pure economics or finance book, rather an all-encompassing comprehensive book in which past disasters, including the Corona pandemic up to mid-2021, are rehashed and possible lessons that can be learned from them are formulated.

Already known catastrophes of the human history, but above all the reactions of humans are analyzed and the information from it written down. Ferguson cites countless examples. Alone all the epidemics and pandemics that already existed, which he lists, chronicles and treats (causes, course, human reactions, containment), helped me to classify the Corona pandemic.

This book does not set down wild speculations, however, the author has included one of his public letters in the book, the contents of which should come true. For example, Ferguson warned as early as June 2021 that as soon as the Corona pandemic seems to be somewhat controllable, armed conflicts may arise, based on already existing territorial tensions. As of now, we can say that this has arrived with the Ukraine war. That doesn't make him a saint, especially because he doesn't mention Russia, or Ukraine by name, however, I found this passage very interesting, especially with the background that the public, as well as everyone I talked to, was surprised at the Russian war of aggression.

At the same time, Ferguson has nothing of a prophet of doom. His analyses and assessments are supported throughout with examples and data from the past. Spectacular horror scenarios are not painted, but realistic potential events are named that have already taken place in some form in the past.

Above all, past incidents are processed and the essential information is taken from them. The book addresses questions such as "why do some societies and states respond so much better to disaster than others? Why do some shatter from it, while most survive and a few emerge stronger? Why do policymakers sometimes blame disasters on themselves?" (Niall Ferguson, 2021, p.35, lines 11-15). In the course of this, he also gives his assessment of the much discussed and prophesied decline of the superpower USA and its replacement by China.

In my opinion a book worth reading. Topical and insightful. Ferguson manages to break down and contextualize economic, political, social and historical events so that his book actually produces lessons for the future. Always scholarly, without suggesting an advice function. This book is curiosity arousing, but grounded in a scientific approach rather than euphoria, populism or alarmism.

Ferguson has a pleasant writing style that does not require scientific understanding and can be easily understood even in German translation.

Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars

For people who do not want to deal with the past, nor with the future, this book is certainly nothing at all. For those who want to listen to analysis and derived lessons from a highly educated man and, if necessary, use the information for themselves, this book is a definite buy. People interested in history will definitely get their money's worth as well. Speaking of cost: I bought the copy discussed here used for 20€, new you can get it for 28€ at Amazon