In your review of Joshua Cooper Ramo’s The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It (London: Little, Brown, 2009) you argue that it is far from an either striking or convincing read (“Future Shock,” May 9, 2009). The book’s title already suggests as much, indeed. But your own title also suggests a review that is neither striking nor convincing. In particular, all you have to offer to your apt question—whether this era is really the first unpredictable one—is a reference to one of the biggest selling books in Edwardian England. Wow! The first really unpredictable era of our civilization defined broadly is undoubtedly the fall of the Roman Empire. If you check this subject in any well-stocked bookstore today you will find a plethora of competing reads. The subject is most popular with readers for the very same reason that Ramo’s book is likely to end up on many a bestseller list.