Messy
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Messy
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Narrated by:
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Roger Davis
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By:
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Tim Harford
About this listen
The urge to be tidy seems to be rooted deep in the human psyche. Many of us feel threatened by anything that is vague, unplanned, scattered around or hard to describe. We find comfort in having a script to rely on, a system to follow, in being able to categorise and file away. We all benefit from tidy organisation - up to a point.
A large library needs a reference system. Global trade needs the shipping container. Scientific collaboration needs measurement units. But the forces of tidiness have marched too far.
Corporate middle managers and government bureaucrats have long tended to insist that everything must have a label, a number and a logical place in a logical system. Now that they are armed with computers and serial numbers, there is little to hold this tidy-mindedness in check. It's even spilling into our personal lives, as we corral our children into sanitised play areas or entrust our quest for love to the soulless algorithms of dating websites.
Order is imposed when chaos would be more productive. Or if not chaos, then...messiness. The trouble with tidiness is that in excess, it becomes rigid, fragile and sterile.
In Messy, Tim Harford reveals how qualities we value more than ever - responsiveness, resilience and creativity - simply cannot be disentangled from the messy soil that produces them. This, then, is an audiobook about the benefits of being messy: messy in our private lives; messy in the office, with piles of paper on the desk and unread spreadsheets; messy in the recording studio, in the laboratory or in preparing for an important presentation; and messy in our approaches to business, politics and economics, leaving things vague, diverse and uncomfortably made up on the spot.
It's time to rediscover the benefits of a little mess.
©2016 Tim Harford (P)2016 Little BrownListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Messy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- OldDrWhoFan
- 21-01-21
Everyone should read this book
A really interesting and well researched book that made me feel a lot better about my filing system! But also great information about huge parts of your life from how to run your business to how to find a partner and why diversity is so important and the impact it has. Thank you Tim!!!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tom Walczak
- 30-06-18
great book bad narrator
loved the book, it as a lot of great ideas, hated the narrator's fake accents
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Muriel
- 30-06-23
Brilliantly messy
This has been a joy to listen to. As an octogenarian who has lived and worked in so many different communities from the Australian outback to large metropolitan institutions I so agree with Tim when he talks about the over controlling of our so called civilised society for the sake of ‘uniformity’. My heart bleeds for the younger generations who have so much talent and are so frustrated by the present administration of life activities. Soft play areas? When are children going to learn to look after themselves and become full human beings. Keep talking Tim and I so hope that we all hear you.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- mr p garrett
- 16-11-17
Messy always worked for me and now I know why
I am untidy anyway so a book about how messiness can be applied and actually even suit certain people and situations. This book retains the eclectic engaging and funny bunch of stories and research about both the issues which occur when people try to control, measure and micromanage complex situations and the unintended consequences that result.
Brilliant read
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jacob Magnussen
- 08-03-18
Insightful and helpful
Loved it. So many fun and enlightening facts. Can really be implemented in your personal or work life.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Rob Tuley
- 06-03-17
Fascinating Insight
As to be expected from Tim Harford this is a well researched book full of great insights into the value of a bit of healthy chaos. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on unintended targets and the value of ambiguity and small "Swat team" regulatory assessment.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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- Henry
- 07-11-16
Messy
The American accents were a bit annoying. It was an interesting book though. Tim Harford is great.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- frances rowlands
- 24-03-21
Messy review
Loved the book, and although I liked most of the narration, not sure about the accents for particular characters, didn't feel that it added anything.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Joff
- 10-12-20
A messy look at life
I bought this as it was in a sale and I immediately regretted it as I like all things tidy. I've just finished it and it was a fun and thought provoking examination of many aspects of life from politics, art and society. Full of lots of cool anecdotes, records of experiments and historical stories. I now realise that I'm more messy than I thought. Highly recommended!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Peter Owen
- 22-12-22
A great read (listen)!
Tim Harford writes engagingly about how "life is messy" and how sometimes our attempts to impose order or tidiness may feel like the right thing to do, but can actually reduce our resilience or creativeness. How the natural world embraces messiness, how innovative companies and institutions have wrought great inventions and ideas out of messy, variable environments and how organising your email into folders is actually less efficient than just having a cluttered inbox!
A superb read with no dull moments, and an informative and educational book.
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