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. Though
the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are
getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following
Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container
shipping are enriching people's lives as never before. The
pessimists who dominate public discourse insist that we will soon
reach a turning point and things will start to get worse. But they
have been saying this for two hundred years.
Yet Matt Ridley does more than describe how things are getting
better. He explains why. Prosperity comes from everybody working
for everybody else. The habit of exchange and specialization--which
started more than 100,000 years ago--has created a collective brain
that sets human living standards on a rising trend. The mutual
dependence, trust, and sharing that result are causes for hope, not
despair.
This bold book covers the entire sweep of human history, from
the Stone Age to the Internet, from the stagnation of the Ming
empire to the invention of the steam engine, from the population
explosion to the likely consequences of climate change. It ends
with a confident assertion that thanks to the ceaseless capacity of
the human race for innovative change, and despite inevitable
disasters along the way, the twenty-first century will see both
human prosperity and natural biodiversity enhanced. Acute,
refreshing, and revelatory, "The Rational Optimist" will change
your way of thinking about the world for the better.
General
Imprint: |
Fourth Estate
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
March 2011 |
First published: |
March 2011 |
Authors: |
Matt Ridley
|
Dimensions: |
197 x 130 x 30mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - B-format
|
Pages: |
453 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-00-726712-5 |
Categories: |
Books >
Business & Economics >
Economics >
General
|
LSN: |
0-00-726712-6 |
Barcode: |
9780007267125 |
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