The Rational Optimist
How Prosperity Evolves
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3.8 • 24 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“A delightful and fascinating book filled with insight and wit, which will make you think twice and cheer up.” — Steven Pinker
In a bold and provocative interpretation of economic history, Matt Ridley, the New York Times-bestselling author of Genome and The Red Queen, makes the case for an economics of hope, arguing that the benefits of commerce, technology, innovation, and change—what Ridley calls cultural evolution—will inevitably increase human prosperity. Fans of the works of Jared Diamond (Guns, Germs, and Steel), Niall Ferguson (The Ascent of Money), and Thomas Friedman (The World Is Flat) will find much to ponder and enjoy in The Rational Optimist.
For two hundred years the pessimists have dominated public discourse, insisting that things will soon be getting much worse. But in fact, life is getting better—and at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before.
An astute, refreshing, and revelatory work of nonfiction that covers the entire sweep of human history—from the Stone Age to the Internet—The Rational Optimist will change your way of thinking about the world for the better.
The Collective Brain: Discover how the uniquely human habit of exchange and specialisation created a collective intelligence, sparking innovation and driving prosperity for the last 100,000 years.An Economics of Hope: Read the counterintuitive and evidence-based argument that challenges centuries of pessimism, proving that food availability, income, and lifespan are up while disease, child mortality, and violence are down.The Evolution of Prosperity: Journey through the entire sweep of human history, from the Stone Age to the Internet, to understand how commerce, technology, and the division of labour have consistently raised our standard of living.Escaping Malthus’s Trap: Uncover why humanity’s progress is an accelerating and sustainable process, and why—despite crises and catastrophes—our future is brighter than we think.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ideas have sex, in Ridley s schema; they follow a process of natural selection of their own, and as long as they continue to do so, there is reason to retire apocalyptic pessimism about the future of our species. Erstwhile zoologist, conservationist, and journalist, Ridley (The Red Queen) posits that as long as civilization engages in exchange and specialization, we will be able to reinvent ourselves and responsibly use earthly resources ad infinitum. Humanity s collective intelligence will save the day, just as it has over the centuries. Ridley puts current perceptions about violence, wealth, and the environment into historical perspective, reaching back thousands of years to advocate global free trade, smaller government, and the use of fossil fuels. He confidently takes on the experts, from modern sociologists who fret over the current level of violence in the world to environmentalists who disdain genetically modified crops. An ambitious and sunny paean to human ingenuity, this is an argument for why ambitious optimism is morally mandatory.
Customer Reviews
A nice optimistic read
Although one always has to read critically and avoid being swept up in any individual writers strength of opinion, this book does appeal in its optimism and its well argued lines of support for its optimistic view. If nothing else, it should give many readers a lot to think about and hopefully help people to gain a broader perspective on the world we live in.