Everything we know about solving the world's problems is wrong. From: Plans, experts, and above all, leaders. Through: Adaptation - improvisation instead of planning; failure, learning, and retrying.

In this groundbreaking book, Tim Harford shows how the world's most complex and significant problems - such as terrorism, climate change, poverty, innovation, and financial crisis - can only be solved from the bottom up through a rapid process of experimentation and adaptation.

From a space base in the Mojave Desert to the battles on the streets of Iraq, from a burning offshore platform to everyday decisions in our lives and businesses, this guide is about surviving - and thriving - in our complex and ever-changing world.