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The fifth risk  Cover Image Book Book

The fifth risk / Michael Lewis.

Summary:

"The election happened," remembers Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, then deputy secretary of the Department of Energy. "And then there was radio silence." Across all departments, similar stories were playing out: Trump appointees were few and far between; those that did show up were shockingly uninformed about the functions of their new workplace. Some even threw away the briefing books that had been prepared for them. Michael Lewis's brilliant narrative takes us into the engine rooms of a government under attack by its own leaders. In Agriculture the funding of vital programs like food stamps and school lunches is being slashed. The Commerce Department may not have enough staff to conduct the 2020 Census properly. Over at Energy, where international nuclear risk is managed, it's not clear there will be enough inspectors to track and locate black market uranium before terrorists do. Willful ignorance plays a role in these looming disasters. If your ambition is to maximize short-term gains without regard to the long-term cost, you are better off not knowing those costs. If you want to preserve your personal immunity to the hard problems, it's better never to really understand those problems. There is upside to ignorance, and downside to knowledge. Knowledge makes life messier. It makes it a bit more difficult for a person who wishes to shrink the world to a worldview. If there are dangerous fools in this book, there are also heroes, unsung, of course. They are the linchpins of the system-those public servants whose knowledge, dedication, and proactivity keep the machinery running. Michael Lewis finds them, and he asks them what keeps them up at night.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781324002642 (hardcover)
  • Physical Description: 221 pages ; 25 cm
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York : W.W. Norton & Company, [2018]
Subject: Administrative agencies > United States > Management.
Government executives > United States.
Public administration > United States.
Civil service > United States.
United States > Politics and government > 2017-

Available copies

  • 2 of 2 copies available at Tsuga Consortium. (Show)
  • 2 of 2 copies available at Innisfil Public Library System.
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Lakeshore Branch. (Show)

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 2 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Lakeshore Branch 320.973090512 Lew 31681010130300 NONFIC Available -
Stroud Branch 320.973090512 Lew 31681010121663 NONFIC Available -


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