The acknowledgments read like the hidden scaffolding behind the book: editors who sharpened structure, colleagues who challenged claims, researchers who explained complex findings, and friends who tolerated the long tunnel of reporting.
It quietly reinforces the book’s theme. No big project is built by willpower alone. It’s built by systems—deadlines, feedback loops, and people who keep you honest when attention drifts.
There’s also gratitude for the individuals whose stories appear on the page, because narrative nonfiction borrows real lives to make abstract ideas memorable.
If the book argues that habits shape outcomes, the acknowledgments show the same truth in practice: the habit of collaboration turns a private draft into a finished work.