The Rational Optimist

About “The Rational Optimist”

The book notes that over 10,000 years ago there were fewer than 10 million people on the planet, and today there are more than 6 billion, 99 percent of whom are better fed, sheltered, entertained, and protected against disease than their Stone Age ancestors. Matt Ridley argues that humans progress when they trade and only trade productively when they trust each other, offering an optimistic answer to persistent fears about the future. A 2010 book by Matt Ridley.