You may know Robert James Waller as the man who brought the world to Iowa's storied covered bridges. What you may not realize is that before and since becoming an internationally acclaimed novelist, Waller has grappled with a very real puzzle: How can an individual, a group, and/or a society cut through the confusion of everyday life to successfully navigate its pitfalls and traps? Through intense reflection, shrewd reasoning, and not a little trial and error, the reclusive author has developed a unique and inventive paradigm for thinking clearly and logically. In The Summer Nights Never End...Until they Do, Waller shares a methodology that can be applied to everything from governmental gaffs and immigration reform to losing weight and financial freedom. Like so many things that make sense, Waller's words are complex in their simplicity, turn from the madness of short-term, quick fixes and toward time-tested, reasonable goals. The devil is in the details. So, too, are the answers. Table of Contents: Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i Part I: The Blueprint Chapter 1 Weight Gain, Infidelity, and Retirement Savings Are the Same . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter 2 Love, Money, and the Paths We Take . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Chapter 3 The Value of the Small Increment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Chapter 4 Getting Trapped . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Chapter 5 Social Traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Chapter 6 Vicious Circles, Beneficent Spirals, and the Power of Feedback . . . . . . 47 Chapter 7 Getting Out of Trouble: Conventional Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 Chapter 8 Getting Out of Trouble: Incentives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Chapter 9 Avoiding Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Chapter 10 A Tsunami Trap: The Case of Public Pension Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111 Chapter 11 Democracy and Its Saboteurs (Intentional and Otherwise) . . . . . . . . . 117 Part II Matters Personal and General Chapter 12 Views of Humans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Chapter 13 Political Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Chapter 14 Miscellaneous Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Part III Loose Ends and Recapitulation Chapter 15 Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Epilogue A n Essay: What the Rivers Taught Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213 Appendix Financial Versus Personal Discounting (Optional Reading) . . . . . . . 221 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225