The Rational Optimist

How Prosperity Evolves

By: Matt Ridley

Narrated by: L. J. Ganser

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.

©2010 Matt Ridley (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers

Exchange is the essence of humanity

This book is arrestingly, surprisingly, refreshingly different to the current tide of thinking about the World and the future, almost to the point of making you feel that it might be heretical to be persuaded by its ideas. I listened to it and felt completely convinced - but I also felt like I ought to consult some other clever person (other than the author, not other than me!) to ask whether it’s OK to believe this book.

Another surprising thing about this work is that it appears to take a totally different direction to other works by the same author (I had to Wiki the name to make sure the author was the same person). I’ve previously read ‘Genome’ and ‘Nature via Nurture’ by Matt Ridley and thoroughly enjoyed the output of this popular science author, but ‘the Rational Optimist’ is utterly different (reminding me of the difference between Dawkins’ ‘Selfish Gene’ and his ‘God Delusion’ in terms of an author of nonfiction radically changing their subject matter). The ‘Rational Optimist’ posits the theory that THE key feature of humanity that has given rise to progress and prosperity is trade and exchange – more than any other thing. Not education, not culture, not government, not science, but the free market – and this going right back to our earliest hunter-gatherer origins.

He presents this argument in a very convincing (and enjoyable) way - so much so, that someone with slight socialist tendencies (like me) fears that he is being suckered into buying into capitalist propaganda! Like someone who reads ‘The Art of the Deal’ by Donald Trump and is seduced by its tub-thumping inanity.

Ridley argues that the ability of man to continue to invent and reinvent and create new ways of growing prosperity continues at such a fantastic – even exponential – rate, that we will easily manage to overcome the challenges of the future, such as climate change and increasing population. In this respect the book is very similar to ‘Abundance’ by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler, also a great optimistic - highly recommended - audiobook available from Audible.

On the downside, the narration was a bit disappointing. With most audiobooks you get a bit of inappropriate word emphasis and occasional word mispronunciation (exceptions are audiobooks narrated by their authors), but in this case the incidence of these avoidable, unforced errors was unacceptably high. However, in mitigation, the narrator does have a proper ‘actor’s’ voice with the requisite gravitas to be pleasing on the ear.

Finally, I would say that this is an extremely thought-provoking and interesting book - so good that I’m just about to listen to it for a second time.

The most important book I've read in years.

Assuming all of the facts are true and you can believe the conclusions of the studies, this book is a critical read. I plan to come back and read it six months hence to help deepen my recall of how it impacts my thinking on economy, society, and environment.

Excellent book, shifted my mindset with facts

This is the type of book that challenges your thinking and beliefs on age old promoted ideas and concepts. It allows you to break away from the chains that may have held you back from progress while succinctly pointing out what has!

A different way of thinking about the future

I consider myself to be an environmentalist and my beliefs to be on the liberal side. This book makes a good case to have a positive outlook of the future, rather than the typical predictions that our world is going to hell in a hand basket. It certainly has me revisiting a lot of my strongly held beliefs. I didn't agree with everything said, but I definitely enjoyed the optimistic approach at viewing society.

Almost perfect...

Would you listen to The Rational Optimist again? Why?

I'm already on my second listen. There is a lot of data to absorb that I want to be able to share as needed.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

How much we just hate good news!

Any additional comments?

One thing he got wrong was about farming methods. While I agree he may have a point about organic industrial not being efficient, its worth noting that that particular niche in the market was created by consumer demand. In fact, traditional mixed farms produce far more food per acre than do industrial farms.

This in no way negates the central theme of the book in that things are getting better. Mixed use farming, and biodynamic growing methods are increasing because consumers desire this product and because can produce food on land that might otherwise be very difficult. Efficiency and productivity are increasing to the point where the farmers can feel free to take time off!

History for Optimists

Despite the constant barrages of doom in the days of the Covid 19, there is hope. in this book, Matt Ridley gives a brief history of the advance of Human progress. The delivery is light but thoughtful.

Absolutely fascinating book

An absolute must read for any open-minded individual. One of my favorite books! Read it!

Refreshing read

I am a black immigrant in America, and consider myself a progressive liberal especially concerning racial issues. Most of the liberal media is propelled by fear and pessimism, also the conservative media although different kinds of fear. While the liberal media is fearful of climate change, inequality, surveillance, the conservative are fearful of immigrants, minorities, Muslims, the government to name a few.

The polarization of society has made this acute although this is not new. I like how the author has used history and a timeline of humanity to give us hope as a specie, this stands in contrast to another book I thoroughly enjoyed - Sapiens by Mr Hariri. I listened to this book after the sequel - “how freedom drives innovation”, and both books are great for anybody who believes in innovation and the onward match of society.

His delivery is also very good, properly accented, relevant content and direct messages.

A Refreshing and Reasonable World View

Matt Ridley does a great job of taking a serious and rational look at history to explain where we came from, how we got here and why we should look forward to a sunny future, far better than anything that we can currently imagine.

Fact based evidence as discuss by author/narrator.

Turns out that we are blessed to be alive right now ( fact based evidence ). I am going to turn away for news media that contains so many negativities. Thanks for the historical incites. Starting my rational optimism today.