MATT RIDLEY (1958 - ) has an advanced degree in zoology, worked as an editor and is and author specializing in evolutionary underpinnings of human innovation. His best known book is 'The Red Queen' about sex and the evolution of human nature.

The Rational Optimist
by Matt Ridley
Harper Collins, 2010
 
With this book, Ridley dispenses a dose of needed optimism, to say the least, in a world consumed with worries and anxiety about the future. Where I agree with Ridley in particular is with his diagnosis of environmentalist being unable to see positive scenarios for the future, simplifying and glorifying aspects of a less consumerist and technological past, and in the name of ideology rejecting genetic engineering.

The Red Queen: Sex and the evolution of human nature
by Matt Ridley
Harper Perennial (2003)

April 23, 2011 /  © 2011 Lukas K. Buehler / go back to Book Review Home