Adapted from the book "Hormegeddon: How Too Much Of A Good Thing Leads To Disaster" by Bill Bonner http://www.amazon.com/Hormegeddon-Much-Thing-Leads-Disaster/dp/0990359530/

1. HORMEGEDDON
HOW TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING LEADS TO DISASTER
BILL BONNER

2. HISTORY IS A LONG TALE OF THINGS THAT WENT FUBAR
D E B A C L E S , D I S A S T E R S , A N D C A T A S T R O P H E S
You can learn about these disasters by reading history. But be careful. Histories are narratives.
THEY ARE STORIES.

3. WE NEVER KNOW WHAT
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT.
— E N G L I S H P H I L O S O P H E R K A R L P O P P E R
“
”

4. The alternative—silence—isn’t much fun though.
Instead, we stretch and strain to understand things
WE CAN NEVER REALLY HOPE TO UNDERSTAND AT ALL.

5. THE BEST WE CAN DO IS TRY TO
CATCH TINY GLIMPSES OF THINGS
THAT ARE TRUE ENOUGH

6. O N E O F T H E S E T H I N G S I S T H E P H E N O M E N O N C A L L E D
HORMEGEDDON

7. Hormegeddon is what happens when a small dose of something produces a favorable result,
B U T I F Y O U I N C R E A S E T H E D O S A G E ,
THE RESULTS ARE A DISASTER.

8. First described in 1888, it was later given
a name by scientists in 1943: “hormesis.”
NASSIM TALEB, AUTHOR OF THE BLACK SWAN AND ANTIFRAGILE, SUGGESTED
APPLYING THE TERM BEYOND ITS ORIGINAL APPLICATION, PHARMACOLOGY.
Hormegeddon does just that.

9. DISASTERS COME IN MANY FORMS,
FROM EPIDEMICS TO EARTHQUAKES AND TORNADOES.
B U T H O R M E G E D D O N A P P L I E S T O
A N O T H E R K I N D O F D I S A S T E R —
THOSE THAT ARE MAN-MADE

10. The problem is, these disasters cannot be
stopped by smart people with good intentions,
BECAUSE THOSE EXACT PEOPLE ARE THE ONES WHO CAUSE THESE DISASTERS IN THE FIRST PLACE.
They all have the same characteristics:

11. 1
T H E Y A R E T H E P R O D U C T O F
“RATIONAL THINKING.”
THINK BAILOUTS FOR BANKERS AND SUBSIDIES FOR CORN.

12. 2
THEY ARE THE RESULTS OF LARGE
SCALE PLANNING, USUALLY BACKED
BY THE GOVERNMENT.

13. 3
T H E F E E D B A C K L O O P I S TWISTED.

14. 4
T Y P I C A L L Y W H E N Y O U M A K E A M I S T A K E
YOU FEEL THE PAIN OF ADVERSE CONSEQUENCES,
L I K E WHEN YOU PUT YOUR HAND TO THE S TOV E .

15. 5
Man-made disasters twist that loop and put the pain onto someone else,
LEAVING THOSE WHO MADE THE ORIGINAL BAD CHOICES
FREE OF CONSEQUENCES
and free to continue their bad behavior.

16. 6
T H E Y C R E A T E T H E I R O W N
SUPPORT SYSTEMS.

17. 7
RATHER THAN SELF-LIMITING,
MAN-MADE DISASTERS ARE SELF-PERPETUATING.
THEY CREATE “ZOMBIES”, PEOPLE WHO GAIN FROM WEALTH-DESTROYING ACTIVITIES.

18. We can see the effect of Hormegeddon in some
of the largest man-made disasters in history —
from the outbreak of WWII to the 21st century War on Terror,
FROM THE GREAT RECESSION TO THE SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS.

19. WE CAN ALSO SEE THE EFFECTS OF HORMEGEDDON IN OUR PERSONAL LIVES.
I T O C C U R S W H E N T H E M A R G I N A L R E T U R N S I N A N
I N V E S T M E N T Y O U M A K E S I N K S B E L O W Z E R O .

20. L i k e t h e p o p u l a r C r o s s f i t w o r k o u t r o u t i n e , w h i c h c a n
p r o v e f a t a l i f p r a c t i c e d b e y o n d i t s p r a c t i c a l l i m i t s .
THE FOUNDER OF CROSSFIT, GREG GLASSMAN, WAS RECENTLY QUOTED SAYING,
“IT CAN KILL YOU. I’VE ALWAYS BEEN
COMPLETELY HONEST ABOUT THAT.”

21. Or eating. A little bit of food can be the difference between
survival and death, which is a very high return on investment.
BUT AMERICA IS APPROACHING HORMEGEDDON IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD,
WITH OVER A QUARTER OF AMERICANS
CLASSIFIED AS OBESE.

22. UNDERSTANDING HORMEGEDDON GIVES US THE CONTEXT AND UNDERSTANDING TO
HELP US AVOID THESE IMPENDING DISASTERS IN OUR OWN LIVES, LIKE
INVESTING FOR RETIREMENT, RUNNING A BUSINESS,
OR IMPROVING OUR RELATIONSHIPS.

23. “THIS IS A MUST, MUST, MUST READ EXPOSITION ON THE SIDE
EFFECT OF GOVERNMENT. IT EXPOSES THE PROBLEM OF NAIVE
INTERVENTIONISM, THE IATROGENICS OF BUREAUCRACIES, AND THE
GROWING ABSENCE OF SKIN- IN-THE-GAME. . . IT IS DEEP
ILLUSTRATIVE, WITTY, PLEASANT TO READ.”
—NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB,
AUTHOR OF THE BLACK SWAN AND ANTIFRAGILE

24. From New York Times Bestseller Bill Bonner,
learn how to navigate the biggest man-made
disasters of our time and succeed in business,
investing, and life in spite of them with
Hormegeddon: How Too Much Of A Good
Thing Leads To Disaster.
BUY NOW