Enjoyed this more than I anticipated. Coleman is a fascinating author with very interesting background history. He says he understands how Trump came to power because "I too am angry". He says that we need to challenge those who play forces like maestros.
The book has many very good diagrams and tables, a very extensive set of notes, and also an excellent appendix of key takeaways to summarise the findings. It also has a link to the author's website which has exercises to support each chapter to help deepen understanding (I'm not sure how many readers will actually do this unless this is a field of study for them.)
It also has a very good "if x then y" set of 8 behavioural rules in the final chapter to be used when trapped in polarization whether at home, work or any place of conflict.

I keep wanting to read this book but every time I start, the formatting makes it impossible. There are so many letters missing from words (especially F and Q) so that I am unable to read this book. It is a little better on the iPhone kindle app, but still too hard for me to continue to make an effort.

Therefore I can not comment on the content other than that which I have already struggled to read.

I will not be posting to social media as I was unable to read the book fully.

The formatting is terrible! Footnotes are randomly on other pages and half of the letters in words are missing making it unreadable at times 😬 hopefully this isn’t an issue for the final ebook version.

I liked the beginning of the book but around the halfway point it became more focused on theory/recapping theories than actual solutions. A really dry presentation of his findings that couldn’t hold much of my attention.

Uses theories of mathematics and astrophysics to explain some points of his arguments which for me in unhelpful as I’m not a science/numbers person. If you like lots of info presentations that utilize numbers, graphs, and physics then you may like this more than I did. I was more interested in the psychology aspect than the mathematics info.
I can’t remember half of what I’ve read and think it desperately needed more information/speculation on how we can apply the theories to lessen our current climate of polarization.
Would recommend to those who enjoy analysis but not for “casual” nonfiction readers. His points are important to fixing our problems but the execution could’ve been better.

Super interesting, especially with the way things are right now and as someone who works in policy. It was really well-written and thought provoking.

Conflicts as Advanced Mathematics and Theoretical Astrophysics. I gotta admit, as a more "hard" science / numbers guy, when I saw that Coleman's solution here was based in the realms of advanced mathematics and theoretical astrophysics - gravity wells, complexity theory, etc - I was astonished to see someone put into words ideas I'd long thought of in conflicts in my own life. Though the way Coleman is much more systematic and systemic about them is simply phenomenal bordering on the profound. Yes, the man is an admitted progressive and yes, some of his throw away level comments are solidly from that perspective, but if you're of a type who would normally throw a book down in disgust just over those points alone (or if you're the type who would do those if he were an admitted conservative making similar comments)... you're pretty well exactly who needs to read this book anyway. ;) Pretty spectacular, and a *needed* read pretty well right this second - I write this review at the beginning of US Presidential Inauguration Week 2021, nearly six full months before the book's scheduled publication at the beginning of June. Something tells me the book will be at least as relevant as it currently is at that point, and you should absolutely read and strongly consider Coleman's points as soon as you can. Very much recommended.