MixedFinancial Times (UK)Although the writing is compelling, the sheer range of examples makes it difficult always to hold on to a sense of the overall thesis; each tree is beautifully drawn but this reader at least sometimes struggled to retain a sense of the wood. Forecasting, network science, economics, epidemiology, together with the psychology of leadership are all considered in a dazzlingly broad examination of the \'politics of catastrophe\'. Reassuringly, Ferguson concludes that human behaviour does actually matter in determining the impact of disasters, whatever their origins or character. The vulnerability of the system, rather than the weakness of the leadership, is fundamental to Ferguson’s account of how catastrophes unfold ... With his elegant prose style and depth of sources, he provides what must be one of the most detailed, comprehensive and readable accounts of the early months of the pandemic that has been published to date. The vulnerability inherent in our networked world is discussed by Ferguson with an expertise that puts much contemporary comment on Covid to shame ... An early second edition or even simply a postscript would benefit the book ... for all its magisterial reach, Doom is more useful as a warning of past follies than a guide to those that may be coming over the horizon ... The inherent unpredictability of what lies in wait for us all around the next corner means that, notwithstanding Ferguson’s brilliance and breadth of scholarship, this immensely readable book is a better lens than it is a compass.