APB Speaker Tim Urban Releases First Book: "What’s Our Problem?"
01 Mar 2023
In 2016, Tim Urban, author and creator of the wildly popular blog, Wait But Why, looked at American society and knew something was off. Political tribalism was on the rise, anger was overflowing on social media and productive discussions seemed impossible. Why was everything such a mess? Why was everyone acting like babies? When did things get so tribal? Why do humans do this stuff?
This massive topic sent Urban tumbling down his deepest rabbit hole yet, through mountains of history, evolutionary psychology, political theory, neuroscience and modern-day political movements, as he tried to figure out the answer to a simple question: What's our problem?
The result is Urban’s first book: What's Our Problem? A Self-help Book for Societies.
It is a deep and expansive analysis of our modern times, in the classic style of Wait But Why, packed with original concepts, sticky metaphors and drawings.
The book provides an entirely new framework and language for thinking and talking about today's complex world. Instead of focusing on the usual left-center-right horizontal political axis, which is all about what we think, the book introduces a vertical axis that explores how we think, as individuals and as groups. Readers will find themselves on a fascinating journey that will ultimately change the way they see the world around them. With dozens of new terms and concepts and 303 drawings, it’s a toolbox for understanding our societies, our group dynamics and our own minds.
“What's Our Problem? is an insightful, provocative and hilariously illustrated analysis of why society is sick, and how to fight polarization and tribalism,” says bestselling author and organizational psychologist Adam Grant about the book. “You won't agree with every point ... but that's the point." The public seems to think the same. What’s Our Problem? available as an e-book, audiobook and online series, is a hit. Since its release last week, it’s already a bestseller on Amazon and ranked #1 in Political Commentary and Opinion.
Urban’s illustrated website has over 600,000 subscribers and a monthly average of half a million visitors. He has produced dozens of viral articles on a wide range of topics, from artificial intelligence to social anxiety to humans becoming a multi-planetary species. His 2016 TED main stage talk was the first TED video to ever reach 10 million views in its first year and now ranks in the top 10 most-watched TED talks.