Book Review: Feedback by Nicholas R. Golledge

 When we stand where we are and look as far back into the past as we can, we sense something astounding. We find that our way to the present, in which we humans, the intelligent beings capable of manipulating nature according to will, stand on this blue planet, can be totally attributed to pure luck. There were billions of variables affecting this evolutionary tale at various points in time, and even if one of them was slightly altered, intelligent life would not exist today. This realisation makes us consider the possibility of the existence of an invisible hand that worked miracles and 'conspired' to bring us here. Or is it a rare accident that has a chance in billions, in which the dice always fell in our favour for millions of years? 

In his book Feedback, expert climate scientist Nicholas R. Golledge tries to solve this conundrum by uncovering the hidden connections that bind every cyclic system on earth, from plate tectonics to our social lives. He comes to the conclusion that every system that is cyclic is pushed away from an equilibrium state through multiple feedbacks, and these feedbacks ensure that the system is progressively pushed away until it reaches a point at which it breaks down. After the breakdown, the system adapts, reorganises, and rebuilds again to start a new cycle. The feedback ensures that the new cycle is more optimised and more ordered than the previous ones. I received an advance copy of this book from its publisher, Globe Pequot, through Netgalley. 

The book elaborates its concept in eight chapters, each one focusing on a 'living' system that has evolved using feedback and demonstrating an asymmetrical, sawtooth kind of cycle in which it moves forward slowly and steadily and then suddenly breaks down. Golledge demonstrates this pattern repeating in different systems like plate tectonics, the climate system, biodiversity, the evolution of humanity, human societies, and even the working of the human self. He then goes on to claim that knowledge about this concept of the self-evolving and organising nature of systems can be used to improve the prediction of future trends in most human endeavours.

The book, though comprising a little more than 250 pages, is crammed with information from varied disciplines. It is narrated very passionately, and some of the chapters ended up being page-turners, like a thriller story. It also shed light on several scientific facts. For example, I never knew there was a time period in the history of Earth where the duration of a day was just six hours! I agree that it takes its sweet time to make its actual point, and most of the conclusions felt speculative at the end. But ultimately, Feedback excels in equipping its reader with great insights into the path that we—our planet, all the different species that inhabit it, and us humans—had to take on our way up to here and now.

I am also linking a YouTube video in which the writer explains some of the fundamental concepts that formed this book.