Why can’t we solve our problems anymore? Why do threats such as the Gulf oil spill, worldwide recession, terrorism, and global warming suddenly seem unstoppable? Are there limits to the kinds of problems humans can solve?

Rebecca Costa confronts—and offers a solution to—these questions in her highly anticipated and game-changing book, The Watchman’s Rattle.

Costa pulls headlines from today’s news to demonstrate how accelerating complexity quickly outpaces the rate at which the human brain can develop new capabilities. With compelling evidence based on research into the rise and fall of the Mayan, Khmer, and Roman empires, Costa shows how the tendency to find a quick fix to problems by focusing on symptoms—instead of searching for permanent solutions—leads to frightening long-term consequences: society’s ability to solve its most challenging, intractable problems becomes gridlocked, progress slows, and collapse ensues.

A provocative new voice in the tradition of thought leaders Thomas Friedman, Jared Diamond, and Malcolm Gladwell, Costa reveals how we can reverse the downward spiral. Part history, part social science, part biology, The Watchman’s Rattle is sure to provoke, engage, and incite change.