Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Doom

  • The Politics of Catastrophe
  • By: Niall Ferguson
  • Narrated by: Niall Ferguson
  • Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (185 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Doom cover art

Doom

By: Niall Ferguson
Narrated by: Niall Ferguson
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Empire cover art
Kissinger cover art
Pandemics cover art
Social Justice Fallacies cover art
Colonialism cover art
Reality Check cover art
This Mighty Scourge cover art
The End of the World Is Just the Beginning cover art
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire cover art
The Great Delusion cover art
The Plague Cycle cover art
Pandora’s Lab cover art
Knowledge and Decisions cover art
Why Geography Matters cover art
Aftershocks cover art
AI Superpowers cover art

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin. 

Disasters are inherently hard to predict. But when catastrophe strikes, we ought to be better prepared than the Romans were when Vesuvius erupted or medieval Italians when the Black Death struck. We have science on our side, after all. Yet the responses of many developed countries to a new pathogen from China were badly bungled. Why?

While populist rulers certainly performed poorly in the face of the pandemic, Niall Ferguson argues that more profound pathologies were at work - pathologies already visible in our responses to earlier disasters.

Drawing from multiple disciplines, including economics and network science, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe offers not just a history but a general theory of disaster. As Ferguson shows, governments must learn to become less bureaucratic and more 'antifragile' if we are to avoid the impending doom of irreversible decline.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Niall Ferguson (P)2021 Penguin Audio

More from the same

What listeners say about Doom

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    134
  • 4 Stars
    36
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    133
  • 4 Stars
    23
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    110
  • 4 Stars
    35
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

First Class history it seems to me.

With his depth of knowledge, honest style of appraisal and compelling story telling voice, I could listen to Niall Ferguson talk all day and through the next; and I just did. 😀 Looking for the next one from him. Mick the Hick

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Classic Ferguson

I love Niall Ferguson as a historian and this didn’t disappoint. Ferguson narrates this book and he is excellent and extremely listenable. I feel that it brings the book alive and places his passions and feelings into it. The content of the boom is interesting and provides some thought provoking ideas that link with some of his previous works. There has been criticism that he wrote this book in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t wait until it’s end. But as he explains in the book, what end? When? That’s not his point and the book doesn’t need it. All disasters are to some extent political and I feel from reading this book that is true more than ever. Will need to listen again to fully take in all of the ideas, however this book was not boring and therefore that’ll be not difficult to do. Not a showstopper, but a solid piece of work.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely fascinating!

What a great listen. Really impressive, well researched and excellently narrated.

Now I have to buy a hard copy at my local bookstore! Thank you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

As Ever agree or disagree Ferguson makes you think

A great, wide analysis of disaster. All kinds and throughout history. Very interesting and to be honest entertaining.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

As always intelligent, persuasive and interesting

Highly recommend Fergusons newest book. In a time of turmoil, with mad presidents, climate changes rushing in and pandemics occuring, reading Doom helped at getting an understanding of our late modern society.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Review of Doom:

This is a tour de force that takes a critical look at past and present catastrophes around the world, and how the successes and failures of responses to these can inform the world today.
It is especially prescient given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic for which there is currently no end in sight.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

In desperate need of a revised 2nd edition

This is not just s book on the covid pandemic, it's much broader and deeper in scope. And yet there are constant pointers to the pandemic experience which are, in hindsight, completely wrong. Alas this continually casts doubts and questions over the robustness and soundness of whichever point was being elaborated. This is a real shame as the premise and topics discussed in the book are fascinating.
Hopefully a future revised edition will address the many incorrect conclusions that have being drawn from superseded covid data.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent.

A fascinating journey as always from NF. The breath and depth of knowledge and the connections made between and within it are revealing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars

On balance, a well researched enlightening listen

Ferguson's command of so many disciplines and periods of history make the book. The concluding chapter is also very strong. But a good chunk of the final third feels somewhat dated (given it was written in the middle of the pandemic) and he is somewhat prone to current political commentary (which is probably not why many might be drawn to a history of catastrophe). Perhaps that is unavoidable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great audiobook - but a little long winded

This was a great audiobook, but a little long winded.. The last chapter was an excellent summery.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!