The Fifth Risk

For the first two-thirds of the book I was planning to give this 5 stars but then it sputtered to the end and lost a star. The first two chapters are fascinating and horrifying depictions of the important, little-understood functions of two different federal government departments, Energy and Agriculture, and how poorly mis-managed (or really UN-managed) they are under Trump. Lewis makes the point that even when the agencies are well-staffed, there are always risks that could end up costing human lives (attacks on major power grids, tainted meat supplies); now the risks are even higher because nobody is planning for them. Scary stuff to think that for all of DJT's harmful actions, he may be putting the US in even greater danger by what he is not doing.Then the third chapter, supposedly about Commerce, takes a long detour, with Lewis doing lots of human interest stories and descriptions of the behavioral economics he featured in his recent book [b:The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds 35631386 The Undoing Project A Friendship That Changed Our Minds Michael Lewis https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1509135882s/35631386.jpg 50830817]. He loses the momentum of his argument entirely and never gets it back. He's a very engaging writer, so it's frustrating that the book doesn't end with a stronger conclusion or call to action.