Everything we know about solving the world’s problems is wrong.

Out: Plans, experts and above all, leaders.

In: Adapting – improvise rather than plan; fail, learn, and try again

In this groundbreaking new book, Tim Harford shows how the world’s most complex and important problems – including terrorism, climate change, poverty, innovation, and the financial crisis – can only be solved from the bottom up by rapid experimenting and adapting.

From a spaceport in the Mojave Desert to the street battles of Iraq, from a blazing offshore drilling rig to everyday decisions in our business and personal lives, this is a handbook for surviving – and prospering – in our complex and ever-shifting world.