The Rational Optimist is a 2010 popular science book by Matt Ridley, author of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature. The book primarily focuses on the benefits of the innate human tendency to trade goods and services.
In The Rational Optimist, he covers 200,000 years of human history to make a compelling case that over the millennia poverty declined, disease retreated, violence atrophied, freedom grew and happiness increased.” - The Oregonian (Portland)
The Rational Optimist society champions human prosperity through truths about innovation, freedom, and technological progress.
Acute, refreshing, and revelatory, The Rational Optimist will change your way of thinking about the world for the better.
The Rational Optimist is a bold and provocative interpretation of economic history from the New York Times—bestselling author of Genome, Matt Ridley. Making the case for an economics of hope, Ridley argues that the benefits of commerce, technology, innovation, and change—what Ridley calls cultural evolution—will inevitably increase human prosperity. This bold book covers the entire sweep ...
The rational optimist invites you to stand back and look at your species differently, to see the grand enterprise of humanity that has progressed – with frequent setbacks – for 100,000 years. And then, when you have seen that, consider whether that enterprise is finished or if, as the optimist claims, it still has centuries and millennia to ...
The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves : Ridley, Matt: Amazon.in: Books “A delightful and fascinating book filled with insight and wit, which will make you think twice and cheer up.” — Steven PinkerIn 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 ...