The Rational Optimist:How Prosperity Evolves

Life is getting better, and it is getting better at an accelerating rate.  All across the globe, food availability, income, and life span are up.  Disease, child mortality, and violence are down.

Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper.  Population growth is slowing.  The Internet, the mobile phone, and genetics are enriching people’s lives like 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 that for 200 years.

Our summary of The Rational Optimist, by Matt Ridley, will set the record straight so you can understand why things are truly getting better, and why they will continue to get better.  Ridley is the author of Genome and other books on evolution, genetics, and society that have sold more than 800,000 copies, been translated into 27 languages, and won several awards.

This summary will arm you with the facts that will help you to avoid the pessimism all around you so that you can anticipate – and participate in – the prosperity of the 21st century.