From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Karenina_principle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Karenina_principle: The Anna Karenina principle was popularized by

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Karenina_principle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Karenina_principle: The Anna Karenina principle was popularized by Jared Diamond in his book Guns, Germs and Steel to describe an endeavor in which a deficiency in any one of a number of factors dooms it to failure. Consequently, a successful endeavor (subject to this principle) is one in which every last one of the possible deficiencies has been avoided.