Thom Barrett is an adventurer, a cancer survivor, and a storyteller. A former partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, he spent thirty years building the systems institutions use to prove they are doing what they claim, the frameworks of audit and accountability. The Quiet Collapse turns that discipline on the republic itself, which is why a book this unsparing carries the authority it does.
Now retired to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Thom writes, crafts bespoke furniture by hand, gives time to Habitat for Humanity, and founded the Citizens' League and Operation Citizen, besides the Quiet Collapse civic platform that lets citizens audit their own representatives.
Beyond Cape Cod, his heart beats for discovery: the ice of both poles, the terrains of NorThom Barrett is an adventurer, a cancer survivor, and a storyteller. A former partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, he spent thirty years building the systems institutions use to prove they are doing what they claim, the frameworks of audit and accountability. The Quiet Collapse turns that discipline on the republic itself, which is why a book this unsparing carries the authority it does.
Now retired to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Thom writes, crafts bespoke furniture by hand, gives time to Habitat for Humanity, and founded the Citizens' League and Operation Citizen, besides the Quiet Collapse civic platform that lets citizens audit their own representatives.
Beyond Cape Cod, his heart beats for discovery: the ice of both poles, the terrains of North and South America, the Australian outback, the waters of the Northwest Passage, and the rugged Scottish islands, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, the Shetlands, where the question that became this book first surfaced.
For ten years, Thom has lived with cancer, now stage IV. He mentors other men facing the same diagnosis and is building a residential retreat for them on Cape Cod. He meets it with the same determination he brings to every expedition.
The urgency in these pages is not rhetorical. It belongs to someone who intends the work to outlast him.
He is the author of seven books: Living While Dying, Chasing My Northern Lights, Embracing the Cold, The Strength of Surrender, The Edge of Now, Gerry, A Man I Respect, and The Quiet Collapse.