Press Release
New Book ‘The Velocity of Information’ Discovers Humans' Breaking Point During Chaos
Nominated for the 2022 S. I. Hayakawa Book Prize
“The Velocity of Information - Human Thinking During Chaotic Times” (ISBN: 978-1-4758-6545-5), authored by David P. Perrodin, Ph.D., and published by Rowman & Littlefield rigorously clarifies and deepens how we think about societal human behavior and mental health during days, weeks, months, or even years of chaos. This is an invigorating scholarly work for all audiences.
As chaos erupts, alerts screech on our cell phones and torrents of conflicting-yet-urgent messages gush from media outlets. What is the magnitude of the crisis? What is its cause? And what should people do to protect themselves?
The speed and direction of these details is known as the velocity of information. It overwhelms and distresses people who have not built a network of trustworthy sources to traverse disorder.
“The Velocity of Information offers understanding to manage chaos and our complex reactions to crisis situations influenced by bias and propaganda,” explains Dr. Perrodin. “Recognizing indicators to judge the severity of an incident, understanding human predispositions, and joining a member check network to gauge real-time observations from people in your network provide direction to respond to the reality of a situation with impartiality, thus improving outcomes.”
This book also provides a novel framework, incorporating photos and custom figures, for discerning chaos based on duration, location, and complexity. Understanding how human cognitive limitations affect individual and group human behavior during different stages of chaos allows readers to use the tools in this book to avoid hysteria and optimize responses to emergency events.
Utilizing several in-depth personal interviews and explorations of historical and contemporary events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, The Velocity of Information provides a functional and realistic roadmap with specific, actionable guidance on how to navigate chaos.
James David Dickson, reporter, The Detroit News, says, “David P. Perrodin’s “The Velocity of Information” will empower its readers. Drawing on current events, history, interviews and scholarship, The Velocity of Information is an education in the way people react and adapt to change in this fast-spinning world. Never has it been more important to sift facts and stories for truth and meaning. The Velocity of Information will teach you how people have done it, in history, in the modern day, and even in prison. It will teach you how to do it. The path forward is lit by Dr. Perrodin’s assemblage of homesteaders and special forces fighters, of crab boaters, jewel thieves and Nail Men. There are teachable moments on every page.”
About the Author:
David P. Perrodin, Ph.D., is an author, researcher, professor, and host of The Safety Doc Podcast. Dr. Perrodin is a speech-language pathologist specializing in psycholinguistics. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he researched high stakes safety decisions in education, health care, and the military. Dr. Perrodin has delivered two school safety presentations on Wisconsin Public Television that have been distributed through the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) network, and also wrote and directed a film about school safety with Pulitzer Prize winner David Obst. He is the author of the book School of Errors: Rethinking School Safety in America (2019) and The Velocity of Information: Human Thinking During Chaotic Times (2022).