If you’ve been waiting for the UK publication of “Messy” in paperback, your patience has finally been rewarded! Sorry it’s taken so long; there was the small matter of an epic history of technology and economics to deal with along the way.
‘Utterly fascinating. Tim Harford shows that if you want to be creative and resilient, you need a little more disorder in your world. It’s a masterful case for the life-changing magic of cluttering up’ – Adam Grant
Messy is an exploration of not only of the joys of an untidy desk, but of improvisation, ambiguity, and perhaps most importantly, turning obstacles into ideas. It features Martin Luther King Jr, the jazz legends Keith Jarrett and Miles Davis, a group of near-murderous 11 year old boys, a host of malfunctioning sat-navs, Benjamin Franklin, a pugnacious chatbot, Le Corbusier, Stewart Brand, Brian Eno, and David Bowie. As you can imagine, I loved writing the book.
Take a look at my Messy-inspired reading list, and for a taste of the ideas and the storytelling in the book, try my TED talk:
You can order Messy via Amazon here or a variety of other stores here. And please spread the word!
‘It’s a very very good book, full of wise counterintuitions and clever insights.’ – Brian Eno
In honour of Mr Eno, your Oblique Strategies card for the day is “Humanise something free of error“.