History, it turns out, is full of spoilers. We know how the story ends—the empires fall, the heroes die, the inventions change everything—and yet we're still captivated. Predictable Past explores one of the most fascinating paradoxes in human nature: why events that everyone saw coming still manage to surprise us. Blending psychology, history, and storytelling, this book examines the curious tension between foresight and hindsight. From the fall of Rome to the 2008 financial crisis, from the sinking of the Titanic to the rise of the Internet, Predictable Past reveals why humans are brilliant at recognizing patterns—just never in time to stop them. .