The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves (Paperback)
Matt Ridley (author)- In stock online
Shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction 2011.
Life is on the up.
We are wealthier, healthier, happier, kinder, cleaner, more peaceful, more equal and longer-lived than any previous generation. Thanks to the unique human habits of exchange and specialisation, our species has found innovative solutions to every obstacle it has faced so far.
In `The Rational Optimist', acclaimed science writer Matt Ridley comprehensively refutes the doom-mongers of our time, and reaches back into the past to give a rational explanation for why we can - and will - overcome the challenges of the future, such as climate change and the population boom.
Bold and controversial, it is a brilliantly confident assertion that the 21st century will be the best for humankind yet.
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780007267125
Number of pages: 464
Weight: 330 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 29 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
`A triumphant blast on the vuvuzela of common sense' Boris Johnson
`A glorious defence of our species... a devastating rebuke to humanity's self-haters' Sunday Times
`No other book has argued with such brilliance against the automatic pessimism that prevails' Ian McEwan
`His theory is, in a way, the glorious offspring that would result if Charles Darwin's ideas were mated with those of Adam Smith' The Economist
`Original, clever and controversial' Guardian
`As a work of bold historical positivity it is to be welcomed. At every point cheerfulness keeps breaking through' The Times
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