Why do bad things happen? Does the nature of that "why" change depending on the type of failure or tragedy? How do we systematically and correctly sort out and explain the why of something that clearly has more than one cause? The Why of Things explores this question as it manifests itself in science, economics, medicine, and more. The book kicks off with the brief but useful object lesson provided by the failure of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant after the 2011 tsunami. Here the why is a complex stew of the tsunami itself, a lack of sufficient oversight, and various technical issues.
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