In The Uncertainty Toolkit, Sam Conniff and Katherine Templar Lewis explore what it means to live well in a world that feels increasingly unpredictable. The book combines behavioural science with the lived experiences of people who have faced extreme instability to build a framework for coping with the unknown. I picked this up because there is a lot of uncertainty in my own life at the moment, and I was looking for some practical advice to support my mental health. I really appreciated the mix of research and real-life case studies. While some of the examples are definitely exceptional and not something most people would ever encounter, I liked the idea of learning concrete techniques from people who have had no choice but to navigate instability. I found the practical exercises really helpful. Simple exercises (such as spending one focused minute in gratitude for something tiny) are presented as deliberate attempts to rewire habitual threat responses in the brain. The tone is accessible, and the structure makes it easy to pause and reflect. Although readers already familiar with CBT-style techniques may not find the tools groundbreaking, I found value in having the science, the stories and the exercises gathered in one place. The book doesn’t promise to eliminate anxiety but it does offer a structured way of increasing one's tolerance for it. A recommended read for fans of Oliver Burkeman's books, Atomic Habits, and practical self-help books for mental health. Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier Hive for providing a digital and a paperback copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The opener which said that someone with low tolerance to uncertainty (ie. me and probably a lot of other readers picking up the book) most likely had no imagination and were more likely to get caught up in believing conspiracy theories rankled. Au contraire, I have an excellent imagination, I can imagine every single way a thing can go wrong, hence my appreciation of certainty! Nonetheless, having been called unimaginative and foolish (but thankfully able to change that hopefully just by the reading of this book!), I continued with it for about 40% of the book before deciding it wasn't for me. Personally I felt that although the stories of the people in this book were undoubtedly interesting, they are quite extreme examples. Some of the exercises were interesting although mostly things I had done before in CBT, but the book as a whole failed to engage me since so much of it seemed to be just bigging up The Uncertainty Toolkit and how useful it is without really giving as much practical advice as I wanted.