Leicester Humanists Book Club reads 'Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters' by Brian Klaas

15 December 2025, 18:30 -- 20:30

This month we are reading 'Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters' by Brian Klaas. 

If you could rewind your life to the very beginning and then press play, would everything turn out the same? Or could making an accidental phone call or missing an exit off the highway change not just your life, but history itself?

In Fluke, myth-shattering social scientist Brian Klaas takes a deep-dive into the phenomenon of random chance and the chaos it can sow, taking aim at most people's neat and tidy version of reality. The book's argument is that we willfully ignore a bewildering truth: but for a few small changes, our lives, and our societies, could be radically different.

Offering an entirely new lens, Fluke explores how our world really works, driven by strange interactions and apparently random events. How did one couple's vacation cause 100,000 people to die? Does our decision to hit the snooze button in the morning radically alter the trajectory of our lives? And has the evolution of humans been inevitable, or are we simply the product of a series of freak accidents?

Drawing on social science, chaos theory, history, evolutionary biology, and philosophy, Klaas provides a brilliantly fresh look at why things happen--all while providing mind-bending lessons on how we can live smarter, be happier, and lead more fulfilling lives.

What did you think of the book? How does it make you consider your own life? Do you find his ideas unsettling, or inspiring?

Join us for a coffee or beer and an interesting discussion!

Location

The Garden Room - The Exchange Bar
50 Rutland Street
Leicester, LE1 1RD
United Kingdom

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