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Klaas kicks off with his shocking boyhood discovery that his existence was only possible thanks to his great grandfather’s first wife killing her four children and then herself. From there, the American political scientist draws out the millions of contingent coincidences that create and disrupt our lives – from the happy holiday that saved a Japanese city from destruction, through the split-second leap by a Zambian general that prevented a coup in the African nation in 1997, to the snide joke by President Obama that created the Trump presidency. His message? It’s our attempts to impose excessive order that creates a shock-sensitive world where Covid spreads so rapidly and a gust of wind can disrupt global trade. “We control nothing but influence everything,” he argues. Embrace chance and chaos.