Matt Ridley, acclaimed author of the classics Genome and Nature via Nurture, turns from investigating human nature to investigating human progress. In The Rational Optimist Ridley offers a counterblast to the prevailing pessimism of our age, and proves, however much we like to think to the contrary, that things are getting better. Over 10,000 years ago there were fewer than 10 million people on the planet. Today there are more than 6 billion, 99 per cent of whom are better fed, better sheltered, better entertained ... Read More
Matt Ridley, acclaimed author of the classics Genome and Nature via Nurture, turns from investigating human nature to investigating human progress. In The Rational Optimist Ridley offers a counterblast to the prevailing pessimism of our age, and proves, however much we like to think to the contrary, that things are getting better. Over 10,000 years ago there were fewer than 10 million people on the planet. Today there are more than 6 billion, 99 per cent of whom are better fed, better sheltered, better entertained and better protected against disease than their Stone Age ancestors. The availability of almost everything a person could want or need has been going erratically upwards for 10,000 years and has rapidly accelerated over the last 200 years: calories; vitamins; clean water; machines; privacy; the means to travel faster than we can run, and the ability to communicate over longer distances than we can shout. Yet, bizarrely, however much things improve from the way they were before, people still cling to the belief that the future will be nothing but disastrous. In this original, optimistic book, Matt Ridley puts forward his surprisingly simple answer to how humans progress, arguing that we progress when we trade and we only really trade productively when we trust each other. The Rational Optimist will do for economics what Genome did for genomics and will show that the answer to our problems, imagined or real, is to keep on doing what we've been doing for 10,000 years - to keep on changing. Read Less
Add this copy of The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves to cart. $4.99, very good condition, Sold by Brit Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Milton Keynes, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2010 by Fourth Estate.
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Add this copy of The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves to cart. $6.66, very good condition, Sold by Greener Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from London, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2011 by Fourth Estate.
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Add this copy of The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves to cart. $10.27, like new condition, Sold by GreatBookPricesUK5 rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Castle Donington, DERBYSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2011 by Fourth Estate Ltd.
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Add this copy of The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves to cart. $11.89, good condition, Sold by GreatBookPricesUK5 rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Castle Donington, DERBYSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2011 by Harper Perennial.
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Add this copy of The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves to cart. $12.97, new condition, Sold by GreatBookPricesUK5 rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Castle Donington, DERBYSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2011 by Fourth Estate Ltd.
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Add this copy of The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Works to cart. $13.50, good condition, Sold by Anybook rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2010 by Fourth Estate.
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This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. Clean from markings In good all round condition. Dust jacket in good condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 900grams, ISBN: 9780007267118.
There is plenty of bad news about the state of the world and the state of humanity. There are also many possibilities that surprise us by demonstrating examples of improvement, of better than expected outcomes beyond the daily news. Any book that can lift us over the doldrums may be just the "must read it" we were seeking.
Matt Ridley has written The Rational Optimist, How Prosperity Evolves, and you really must read it. I mean it! Read for yourself how brilliance can prevail in place of automatic pessimism. See how human life has consistently improved over the course of history. See how humanity creates, shares, and spreads wealth. Go for it!
