New Releases by Matt Ridley

In his new book, acclaimed science writer Matt Ridley looks to the peculiar mating rituals of birds to better understand the rich origins and ongoing significance of Darwin''s sexual selection theory. ''Fascinating''The Times

Hơn 2000 năm đi sâu tìm hiểu bản tính con người nhưng dường như đề tài này vẫn chưa cạn đối với các nhà khoa học. Nhà khoa học Matthew White Ridley, bằng những công cụ sắc bén của bộ môn sinh học xã hội và kế thừa những nghiên cứu khoa học của những đồng nghiệp đi trước, trong cuốn sách “Hoàng hậu đỏ: Tình dục và sự tiến hóa của bản tính người”, ông đã dẫn dắt người đọc đi sâu tìm hiểu bản chất của bản tính người. Cuốn sách gồm 10 chương, chia nội dung làm 2 phần tiến hóa và bản tính người. Ba phần đầu tiên của cuốn sách này là nói về tiến hóa, vì hiểu biết nền tảng về tiến hóa là quan trọng. Nhưng nếu như không thích các vấn đề về Gen thì các bạn cũng có thể tiến tới ngay các phần sau giải đáp hàng tá các thắc mắc rất thực tế trong xã hội về bản tính người, như: về sự khác biệt giữa giới tính nam và nữ, bản chất tình dục ở loài người, tình dục đồng giới, bản tính đàn ông và chế độ đa thê, bản tính nữ và chế độ một vợ một chồng hay tại sao đàn ông giàu có lại kết hôn với phụ nữ xinh đẹp?… Cái tên “Hoàng Hậu Đỏ” trong tiêu đề là dựa theo tên một quân cờ mà Alice gặp trong truyện “Thế giới trong gương”. Hoàng Hậu Đỏ là nhân vật cứ chạy mải miết không nghỉ mà vẫn không tiến được bao xa vì cảnh vật xung quanh cũng di chuyển cùng với nó. Bạn chạy càng nhanh, thế giới chuyển động cùng bạn càng nhanh và tiến bộ mà bạn đạt được càng ít. Cuộc đời là một cuộc thi đấu cờ mà nếu bạn thắng ván này thì đến ván sau bạn phải chấp đối thủ một con tốt. Đây là một ý tưởng ngày càng có ảnh hưởng trong thuyết tiến hóa và ta sẽ gặp lại nó nhiều lần xuyên suốt cuốn sách này. Quy tắc Hoàng Hậu Đỏ sẽ thể hiện hết sức rõ rệt trong quan hệ giữa thú săn mồi và con mồi, giữa những vật ký sinh và vật chủ, giữa con đực và con cái của cùng một loài. Mọi sinh vật trên Trái Đất đều tham gia vào cuộc thi đấu cờ theo quy tắc Hoàng Hậu Đỏ với những vật ký sinh (hay vật chủ) của mình, với những con thú săn mồi (hay con mồi) của mình, và trên hết, với bạn tình của mình.

Uma história inspiradora sobre o desenvolvimento da humanidade O que mantém o mundo sempre moderno é o modo de recriar e surgir com algo novo a todo momento. A inovação é o motivo pelo qual mais pessoas vivem hoje com uma boa qualidade de vida, em comparação ao passado. Inovação não é o mesmo que invenção. A inovação raramente procede de um único gênio e leva muito mais tempo. Assemelha-se à evolução darwiniana, um processo de reorganizar o mundo em formas que provavelmente não surgirão por acaso – e que são úteis... E a inovação é potencialmente infinita porque, mesmo que não se trate de nova criação ou invento, ela encontra maneiras de fazer as mesmas coisas mais rapidamente ou com menos energia. Ao longo do livro, Matt Ridley conta histórias fascinantes de desenvolvimento da tecnologia para que os leitores observem o percurso. É nele que está o pulo do gato, pois fornece pistas para as próximas inovações. Ridley traz uma linha de trajetórias, descobertas e inspirações de inventores como Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, irmãos Wright até Jeff Bezos, entre outros. Para ele, o fenômeno de invenção é coletivo, colaborativo e pode acontecer em várias partes do mundo simultaneamente.

"Chan and Ridley write with an urgency...that inspires gripping depictions of what viruses are, how infectious-disease laboratories work and wonderfully lucid descriptions of bats. . . . They powerfully recount how dangerous pathogens can both leak from a lab and emerge in nature." (New York Times Book Review) Understanding how Covid-19 started is crucial for the future of humankind. Viral is the most incisive and authoritative book about the search for the source of the virus. A new virus descended on the human species in 2019 wreaking unprecedented havoc. Finding out where it came from and how it first jumped into people is an urgent priority, but early expectations that this would prove an easy question to answer have been dashed. Nearly two years into the pandemic, the crucial mystery of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is not only unresolved but has deepened. In this uniquely insightful book, a scientist and a writer join forces to try to get to the bottom of how a virus whose closest relations live in bats in subtropical southern China somehow managed to begin spreading among people more than 1,500 kilometres away in the city of Wuhan. They grapple with the baffling fact that the virus left none of the expected traces that such outbreaks usually create: no infected market animals or wildlife, no chains of early cases in travellers to the city, no smouldering epidemic in a rural area, no rapid adaptation of the virus to its new host—human beings. To try to solve this pressing mystery, Viral delves deep into the events of 2019 leading up to 2021, the details of what went on in animal markets and virology laboratories, the records and data hidden from sight within archived Chinese theses and websites, and the clues that can be coaxed from the very text of the virus’s own genetic code. The result is a gripping detective story that takes the reader deeper and deeper into a metaphorical cave of mystery. One by one the authors explore promising tunnels only to show that they are blind alleys, until, miles beneath the surface, they find themselves tantalisingly close to a shaft that leads to the light.

生物醫學的里程碑、重大的科學發現 第一本詳實介紹人類基因組，既叫好又叫座的遺傳學科普書 全球銷售逾百萬冊 榮獲《中國時報》開卷十大好書、《紐約時報》編輯十大最佳選書 「以充滿創意的手法，把極端學術性的人類遺傳學知識寫成人人可讀的科普讀物……不用一張圖片，也能帶領讀者很愉快地走進人類遺傳學的殿堂。」 ——武光東教授 人類的基因組（genome）是由23對染色體所組成的完整基因組合，也可以說是人類的一部自傳。這套基因組採用四個英文字母（A,T,G,C；代表四類鹼基對）來組合，DNA（去氧核糖核酸）總計包含了三十億個這類字母。 三百多萬年以來，我們的基因組代代相傳，並經過編輯、刪除、突變與增添。 作者從人類的23對染色體裡各選出一個新發現的基因，述說其故事，並將人類與其遠祖的歷史，由生命誕生之初娓娓道來，鋪陳到未來醫學的啟蒙之際。 他羅列了我們與細菌共有的基因、使我們有別於黑猩猩的基因、讓我們罹患重疾的基因、可能影響我們的智力的基因、賦予我們語言文法能力的基因、指引我們的身體與頭腦發展的基因、讓我們具有記憶力的基因、促使我們展現先天與後天之神妙融合的基因、為達其自私目的而侵犯我們的基因、相互爭鬥的基因與記載人類遷徙歷史的基因……全書深入淺出，諧趣盎然，帶領讀者一窺人類遺傳之堂奧，自2000年出版以來，一直是遺傳學領域最受歡迎之科普讀物。

La innovación es la actividad más importante de nuestra época: trae progresos espectaculares a nuestro nivel de vida, pero también, en ocasiones, cambios inquietantes a la sociedad. Matt Ridley entiende la innovación como un proceso fortuito que avanza de abajo arriba y es resultado directo de la costumbre humana del intercambio, y no como un proceso ordenado que se pone en marcha desde arriba de acuerdo con un plan establecido. Siempre es un fenómeno colectivo, colaborativo, que implica ensayo y error, y nunca responde a la creación de un genio solitario. El autor extrae estas y otras conclusiones a partir de la fascinante historia de numerosos avances que ilustran qué es la innovación y qué mecanismos la impulsan

''Ridley is spot-on when it comes to the vital ingredients for success'' Sir James Dyson Building on his bestseller The Rational Optimist, Matt Ridley chronicles the history of innovation, and how we need to change our thinking on the subject. Innovation is the main event of the modern age, the reason we experience both dramatic improvements in our living standards and unsettling changes in our society. It is innovation that will shape the twenty-first century. Yet innovation remains a mysterious process, poorly understood by policy makers and businessmen alike. Matt Ridley argues that we need to see innovation as an incremental, bottom-up, fortuitous process that happens as a direct result of the human habit of exchange, rather than an orderly, top-down process developing according to a plan. Innovation is crucially different from invention, because it is the turning of inventions into things of practical and affordable use to people. It speeds up in some sectors and slows down in others. It is always a collective, collaborative phenomenon, involving trial and error, not a matter of lonely genius. It still cannot be modelled properly by economists, but it can easily be discouraged by politicians. Far from there being too much innovation, we may be on the brink of an innovation famine. Ridley derives these and other lessons from the lively stories of scores of innovations - from steam engines to search engines - how they started and why they succeeded or failed.

Building on his national bestseller The Rational Optimist, Matt Ridley chronicles the history of innovation, and how we need to change our thinking on the subject. Innovation is the main event of the modern age, the reason we experience both dramatic improvements in our living standards and unsettling changes in our society. Forget short-term symptoms like Donald Trump and Brexit, it is innovation that will shape the twenty-first century. Yet innovation remains a mysterious process, poorly understood by policy makers and businessmen alike. Matt Ridley argues that we need to see innovation as an incremental, bottom-up, fortuitous process that happens as a direct result of the human habit of exchange, rather than an orderly, top-down process developing according to a plan. Innovation is crucially different from invention, because it is the turning of inventions into things of practical and affordable use to people. It speeds up in some sectors and slows down in others. It is always a collective, collaborative phenomenon, involving trial and error, not a matter of lonely genius. It happens mainly in just a few parts of the world at any one time. It still cannot be modeled properly by economists, but it can easily be discouraged by politicians. Far from there being too much innovation, we may be on the brink of an innovation famine. Ridley derives these and other lessons from the lively stories of scores of innovations, how they started and why they succeeded or failed. Some of the innovation stories he tells are about steam engines, jet engines, search engines, airships, coffee, potatoes, vaping, vaccines, cuisine, antibiotics, mosquito nets, turbines, propellers, fertilizer, zero, computers, dogs, farming, fire, genetic engineering, gene editing, container shipping, railways, cars, safety rules, wheeled suitcases, mobile phones, corrugated iron, powered flight, chlorinated water, toilets, vacuum cleaners, shale gas, the telegraph, radio, social media, block chain, the sharing economy, artificial intelligence, fake bomb detectors, phantom games consoles, fraudulent blood tests, hyperloop tubes, herbicides, copyright, and even life itself.

Almost every schoolchild learns that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. But did he? And if he hadn’t invented it, would we be still living in the dark? Acclaimed author Matt Ridley (The Rational Optimist, The Evolution of Everything) explains that at least 20 other people can lay claim to this breakthrough moment. Ridley argues that the light bulb emerged from the combined technologies and accumulated knowledge of the day – it was bound to emerge sooner or later. Based on his 2018 Hayek Memorial Lecture, Ridley contends that innovation – from invention through to development and commercialisation – is the most important unsolved problem in all of human society. We rely on it – but we do not fully understand it, we cannot predict it and we cannot direct it. In How Many Light Bulbs Does It Take to Change the World? Ridley examines the nature of innovation – and how people often fear its consequences. He dispels the myth that automation destroys jobs – and demonstrates how innovation leads to economic growth. And he argues that intellectual property rights, originally intended to encourage innovation, are now being used by big business to defend their monopolies. Ridley concludes that innovation is a mysterious and under-appreciated process that we discuss too rarely, hamper too much and value too little.

?◆《23對染色體》、《天性與教養》、《世界，沒你想的那麼糟！》暢銷科普作家 馬特．瑞德利 最新著作 演化的觀念不只發生在生物學中，它能解釋人類世界與自然世界種種變化， 影響力無遠弗屆，超乎你的想像！ 人們在解釋自然和人類世界的種種現象時，總是忍不住陷入一個迷思，他們會假設世界的森羅萬象都是人甚或神的施設造作：宇宙和生命是神創造出來的；語言、道德、宗教、法律是聖人創業垂統的結果；人天生是一張白紙，後天環境決定人格的形成；而科技甚至網路的出現，則都要歸功於某些科學家。他們甚至相信，政府的干預可以改善教育、經濟和貨幣問題。 但是暢銷科普作家馬特．瑞德利引用科學、經濟、歷史、政治和哲學的證據，以其趣味盎然的生花妙筆告訴我們：不管是自然現象或人類文明，其實都是自然的、突現的現象。它們是演化的結果，是漸進的、按部就班的，有自己的動能，並非一夕之間創造出來的。而大部分的人類世界則都是人類行為互動的結果，不是有目的的設計和干預。 這就是瑞德利所謂的「廣義演化論」。他認為，達爾文的天擇理論可以說是狹義的演化論，但廣義演化論則適用於社會、貨幣、科技、語言、法律、文化、教育和道德等等領域，讓我們得以破除迷思，建構起真正科學的世界觀。 【專文推薦】 楊倍昌╱國立成功大學醫學院微生物暨免疫學研究所教授、台灣科技與社會學會理事長 【各界好評】 「一種極有智慧且打破偶像崇拜的世界觀，督促我們用新的觀點來看待生命。」 ——《紐約時報書評》（New York Times Book Review） 「他認為，我們生活在一個自下而上的世界??並且提出令人信服的理由。這本傑出作品可說是自瑞德利的其他著作演化而來，如《世界，沒你想的那麼糟》或是《德性起源》，現在他擴展到所有知識領域，並探討新想法是如何湧現的??瑞德利積累出種種極具分量的證據和軼事，趣味橫生，讓人手不釋卷。」 ——《泰晤士報》（The Times） 「這本書不可小覷（瑞德利選用萬物一詞並不誇張），顯然是出自一位博學之士，他詳讀了奇聞軼事、新聞舊事。更重要的是，讀來不讓人覺得這是因應一項委託計畫所寫的書，他慢慢發展自己的論點，時而嘗試，時而還否決自己的想法。就跟大自然一樣，這過程經常會產生美妙的作品。」 ——《文學評論》（Literary Review） 「本書展現出瑞德利對許多不同領域廣泛和深入的了解。作者行文暢快、文筆優美，讀者閱讀後肯定能感到耳目一新，並且開始質疑自己原先的看法。」 ——《展望》（Prospect） 「力透紙背，這本書是瑞德利先生截至目前為止最好、最重要的一本著作??書中具有深刻的民主和平思想乃至於反精英的論調，在這種自下而上的方式裡，每個人在世界的變革中都扮演一定的角色。」 ——《華爾街日報》（Wall Street Journal） 「這是相當特殊的一本書：非常容易閱讀、容易理解、容易體會??在探討此一主題的諸多優良著作中，《無所不在的演化》可說是當中最好的，以冠軍之姿出現，傑出地闡明演化現象在人類世界的普遍性。」 ——《華盛頓時報》（Washington Times） 「可讀性高，饒富趣味??瑞德利的寫作目標值得稱讚，他試圖將我們從直觀的創造論中釋放出來，讓世人看到演化的運作無所不在??瑞德利的書成功達到他的目的??他擁有罕見的能力，能夠以不同的眼光看世界，看出這世界不是由什麼偉人所創造，而是在沒有方向性的變化中逐漸形成。」 ——《新科學家》（New Scientist） 「瑞德利揭示出，即使對最忠實的演化論者而言，要完全拋棄在高處有智能者指導的概念都是非常不容易的事??然而，這正是我們所看到的確鑿證據??瑞德利在每一章引用各種論證使我們能充分理解。」 ——《美國書訊》（Booklist） 「傑出的研究??迷人??發人深省??難以釋卷。」 ——《柯克斯評論》（Kirkus） 「令人印象深刻??喜好演化理論、社會學、歷史學、人類學和哲學的讀者，拿起這本發人深省的書應當會十分開心陶醉。」 ——《圖書館學刊》（Library Journal） 出版社 商周出版 (城邦)

From the Enlightenment onwards, the West has had an enduring belief that through the evolution of institutions, innovations, and ideas, the human condition is improving. This process is supposedly accelerating as new technologies, individual freedoms, and the spread of global norms empower individuals and societies around the world. But is progress inevitable? Its critics argue that human civilization has become different, not better, over the last two and a half centuries. What is seen as a breakthrough or innovation in one period becomes a setback or limitation in another. In short, progress is an ideology not a fact; a way of thinking about the world as opposed to a description of reality. So is the cup half full or half empty? As part of the Munk Debates series, held in Toronto biannually, pioneering cognitive scientist Steven Pinker and bestselling author Matt Ridley squared off against noted philosopher Alain de Botton and bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell, giving us an entertaining and thought-provoking face-off between four of the world''s most renowned thinkers.

Als er één hardnekkige mythe over de wereld bestaat, dan is het dat we allemaal aannemen dat wij mensen kunnen plannen hoe de wereld zich ontwikkelt. Matt Ridley betoogt echter dat ‘evolutie’ het sleutelbegrip is om te kunnen begrijpen hoe en waarom onze wereld verandert. Dit geldt niet alleen voor de natuur, maar ook voor vrijwel alles in de menselijke cultuur, van politiek, moraliteit en technologie tot geld, filosofie en religie. Dit zijn allemaal evolutionaire fenomenen. Ze ontvouwen zich, geleidelijk, ongericht, aanzwellend, gestuurd door een natuurlijke selectie onder concurrerende ideeën. Natuurlijk hebben individuen invloed, net als politieke partijen en grote bedrijven. Maar in De evolutie van alles maakt Ridley duidelijk dat onze wereld weliswaar het product is van menselijk handelen, maar niet van menselijk ontwerp.

Progress. It is one of the animating concepts of the modern era. From the Enlightenment onwards, the West has had an enduring belief that through the evolution of institutions, innovations, and ideas, the human condition is improving. This process is supposedly accelerating as new technologies, individual freedoms, and the spread of global norms empower individuals and societies around the world. But is progress inevitable? Its critics argue that human civilization has become different, not better, over the last two and a half centuries. What is seen as a breakthrough or innovation in one period becomes a setback or limitation in another. In short, progress is an ideology not a fact; a way of thinking about the world as opposed to a description of reality. In the seventeenth semi-annual Munk Debates, which was held in Toronto on November 6, 2015, pioneering cognitive scientist Steven Pinker and bestselling author Matt Ridley squared off against noted philosopher Alain de Botton and bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell to debate whether humankind’s best days lie ahead.

“Mr. Ridley’s best and most important work to date…there is something profoundly democratic and egalitarian—even anti-elitist—in this bottom-up approach: Everyone can have a role in bringing about change.” —Wall Street Journal The New York Times bestselling author of The Rational Optimist and Genome returns with a fascinating argument for evolution that definitively dispels a dangerous, widespread myth: that we can command and control our world Human society evolves. Change in technology, language, morality, and society is incremental, inexorable, gradual, and spontaneous. It follows a narrative, going from one stage to the next, and it largely happens by trial and error—a version of natural selection. Much of the human world is the result of human action but not of human design: it emerges from the interactions of millions, not from the plans of a few. Drawing on fascinating evidence from science, economics, history, politics, and philosophy, Matt Ridley demolishes conventional assumptions that the great events and trends of our day are dictated by those on high. On the contrary, our most important achievements develop from the bottom up. The Industrial Revolution, cell phones, the rise of Asia, and the Internet were never planned; they happened. Languages emerged and evolved by a form of natural selection, as did common law. Torture, racism, slavery, and pedophilia—all once widely regarded as acceptable—are now seen as immoral despite the decline of religion in recent decades. In this wide-ranging, erudite book, Ridley brilliantly makes the case for evolution, rather than design, as the force that has shaped much of our culture, our technology, our minds, and that even now is shaping our future.

C’era una volta il dogma centrale della biologia: solo il fenotipo, cioè l’animale già formato, poteva «apprendere», e quindi solo nel processo di sviluppo l’ambiente poteva agire. Non che oggi il dogma sia stato ritrattato, ma si sono acquisite in merito immense conoscenze, e le modalità dell’espressione genica sono state riconsiderate in maniera radicale. La conseguenza è che, a quanto pare, l’ambiente ha presa sull’intero processo di espressione genica. Il vero «programma» della vita, il «macchinario» che esegue materialmente la trascrizione e l’espressione genica, è aperto alle influenze esterne. Dopo decenni di dispute sempre più aspre e ripetitive sulla contrapposizione tra eredità e ambiente, gli schieramenti rivali degli «innatisti» – sostenitori dell’esistenza, nell’uomo, di un nucleo arcaico scarsamente modificabile con l’esperienza – e degli «empiristi» – invariabilmente antidarwiniani in nome di un’idea di progresso – si trovano spiazzati di fronte a fatti che dimostrano come tale dicotomia non abbia basi oggettive. È quanto emerge da questa indagine garbatamente rivoluzionaria dell’èra post-genomica della biologia: indagine ampia, che spazia tra la genetica della malattia mentale e il comportamento criminale, l’enigma del libero arbitrio e l’origine dell’omosessualità. E dove l’autore, con effervescente intelligenza, riassume l’annoso confronto e individua la nuova eccitante prospettiva: in ogni essere umano sono presenti l’espressione delle emozioni di Darwin e l’eredità di Galton, gli istinti di James e i geni di De Vries, i riflessi di Pavlov e le associazioni di John Watson, la storia individuale di Kraepelin e l’esperienza formativa di Freud, la cultura di Boas e la divisione del lavoro di Durkheim, lo sviluppo di Piaget e l’imprinting di Lorenz. Nessuna spiegazione della natura umana che prescinda da uno solo di questi aspetti può dirsi completa. Tuttavia – ed è qui che Ridley si muove su un territorio inesplorato – è del tutto «fuorviante collocare questi fenomeni lungo un continuum esteso dalla natura alla cultura, da ciò che è genetico a ciò che è ambientale. Piuttosto, per comprenderli tutti, nessuno escluso, occorre comprendere i geni».

AO CONTRÁRIO DO PESSIMISMO GENERALIZADO, UM ECONOMISTA PROVA QUE A VIDA VEM MELHORANDO O MUNDO O jornalista especializado em ciência Matt Ridley acredita que há motivos para ser otimista com relação aos seres humanos. A vida está melhorando, e a um ritmo acelerado. Disponibilidade de alimentos, renda e expectativa de vida estão em alta; doença, mortalidade infantil e violência estão em queda – em todo o mundo. Este livro cobre todo o movimento da história humana, desde a Idade da Pedra até a internet para mostrar que, graças à incessante capacidade humana para a inovação, o século XXI verá a prosperidade das sociedades e a biodiversidade natural aumentadas. "Nenhum outro livro argumentou com tanto brilho e fôlego histórico contra o pessimismo automático dominante." – Ian McEwan

“Ridley leaps from chromosome to chromosome in a handy summation of our ever increasing understanding of the roles that genes play in disease, behavior, sexual differences, and even intelligence. . . . . He addresses not only the ethical quandaries faced by contemporary scientists but the reductionist danger in equating inheritability with inevitability.” — The New Yorker The genome''s been mapped. But what does it mean? Matt Ridley’s Genome is the book that explains it all: what it is, how it works, and what it portends for the future Arguably the most significant scientific discovery of the new century, the mapping of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes that make up the human genome raises almost as many questions as it answers. Questions that will profoundly impact the way we think about disease, about longevity, and about free will. Questions that will affect the rest of your life. Genome offers extraordinary insight into the ramifications of this incredible breakthrough. By picking one newly discovered gene from each pair of chromosomes and telling its story, Matt Ridley recounts the history of our species and its ancestors from the dawn of life to the brink of future medicine. From Huntington''s disease to cancer, from the applications of gene therapy to the horrors of eugenics, Ridley probes the scientific, philosophical, and moral issues arising as a result of the mapping of the genome. It will help you understand what this scientific milestone means for you, for your children, and for humankind.

“A delightful and fascinating book filled with insight and wit, which will make you think twice and cheer up.” — Steven Pinker In 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, arguing that the benefits of commerce, technology, innovation, and change—what Ridley calls cultural evolution—will inevitably increase human prosperity. Fans of the works of Jared Diamond (Guns, Germs, and Steel), Niall Ferguson (The Ascent of Money), and Thomas Friedman (The World Is Flat) will find much to ponder and enjoy in The Rational Optimist. For two hundred years the pessimists have dominated public discourse, insisting that things will soon be getting much worse. But in fact, life is getting better—and at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people''s lives as never before. An astute, refreshing, and revelatory work that covers the entire sweep of human history—from the Stone Age to the Internet—The Rational Optimist will change your way of thinking about the world for the better.

Francis Crick—the quiet genius who led a revolution in biology by discovering, quite literally, the secret of life—will be bracketed with Galileo, Darwin, and Einstein as one of the greatest scientists of all time. In his fascinating biography of the scientific pioneer who uncovered the genetic code—the digital cipher at the heart of heredity that distinguishes living from non-living things—acclaimed bestselling science writer Matt Ridley traces Crick''s life from middle-class mediocrity in the English Midlands through a lackluster education and six years designing magnetic mines for the Royal Navy to his leap into biology at the age of thirty-one and its astonishing consequences. In the process, Ridley sheds a brilliant light on the man who forever changed our world and how we understand it.