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The Rational Optimist
- How Prosperity Evolves
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Life is getting better 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 200 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 21st 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.
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- Janet Engel
- 2021-11-15
Refreshing perspective on humanity
Matt Ridley convincing lays out the framework for why we should be optimistic about the future while cautioning against going down roads that will stifle innovation. Fantastic book!
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- Anonymous User
- 2022-06-07
This should be required reading.
This should be required reading for all high school students. It would put us in a much better position to make decisions collectively.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2023-09-18
Life-changing!!
One of the best books ever written. It dares the reader to become an optimist awaiting growth and prosperity. It does so based on ingenious analysis of common themes throughout human existence from 200,000 years ago to the current day. Highly recommend to each and everyone.
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- Jake L.S.
- 2020-03-26
Rationally Optimistic
I agree with the author. We have more reason than ever to be optimistic however the story written is somewhat boring and mundane in the way it was explained/delivered.
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Good listen.
A good book that presents some interesting perspectives on what lies ahead in the 21st century.
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- AlbertaComputers
- 2020-10-28
One of the best audiobooks I've ever purchased.
This is a brilliant analysis of the past and present showing an excellent case for optimism while the world is constantly selling fear and pessimism.
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- Geoff Woodfied
- 2022-07-08
Dare to go against the herd
Matt Ridley puts together a compelling argument that the pessimists have it wrong. Think outside the box and prepare to have your assumptions challenged.
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- Anonymous User
- 2021-11-15
follow up needed
This book needs a refresh given the state of things in 2021. I'd like to hear the author's opinions about how to remain optimistic in this increasingly authoritarian world.
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- xeea
- 2019-11-18
Good but Agenda-Laden, biased.
First half, the historical recounting of the dawn of mankind was fascinating, and very good! A thorough delve into our dark primeval past, uniquely expressed in fresh ways. The author has an enjoyable flair for simplifying complex concepts.
Second half was marred by a series of extrapolationist long-winded obsessive personal rants denying climate change, ridiculing renewable energy, denouncing organic farming. Such subject matter is poorly presented in two dimensional biases, glossed over as the author’s emotional entrenchment is revealed, unprofessional repeated generalizations of “those people”, alongside endorsements for factory-farming, burning fossil fuels.
Overall a good informative book, but keep your wits about you in the second half where the authors agenda rears it’s head as subtly as a bulldozer driving through a china shop.
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- Jezel
- 2024-03-29
Well-Written Logical Fallacies
I can see why this book is a favorite of billionaires and corporate CEOs. I appreciate the rosy outlook and the effort to counterbalance the alarmism of people and media outlets that seem to focus solely on how bad things are, and this book is full of useful data and insightful viewpoints. However, I have a hard time ignoring the many logical fallacies presented, the cherry-picking and straw-man arguments, the false dilemmas. The dismissal of climate change is always in economic terms (never environmental), and comparisons are often made using gross exaggerations of opposing views. It’s a good book overall but really goes hard on the ideas that economic progress is the only measure of prosperity, and that every cherry-picked prediction from the past is clear evidence that any caution today is misguided.
For years climate deniers have said things like “Oh, you don’t like oil? Well good luck replacing every single ounce of energy we get from fossil fuels with your silly renewables!” and now I see that many of these bad-faith arguments come from this influential and often-quoted book. It’s just mischaracterizing the opposing view, because nobody suggests just immediately stopping all use of fossil fuels, but using our existing reserves to transition to renewables in areas where it makes sense. Matt Ridley instead makes his point by dismissing one side as unreasonable, concluding that renewable energy is merely an impediment to the growth of society and fossil fuels must continue to reign supreme forever. Even on the topic of climate change he uses the extreme estimates made in the past and dismisses them, then talks about how sea level might rise, might go down, and both scenarios are economically bad. We have learned a lot since this book has come out and experienced many climate catastrophes around the world and I don’t feel like his dismissal has aged well.
We’ll have to let the millions of people depending on the fast-drying Colorado River know that global warming will actually increase rainfall and access to water! Droughts will be over, worries about the future of water access are just more alarmism. Global warming will sort it all out and we’ll be better off, claims Ridley.
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