Shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction 2011 Life is on the up We are wealthier healthier happier kinder cleaner more peaceful more equal & longer-lived than any previous generation Thanks to the unique human habits of exchange & specialisation our species has found innovative solutions to every obstacle it has faced so far In The Rational Optimist' acclaimed science writer Matt Ridley comprehensively refutes the doom-mongers of our time & reaches back into the past to give a rational explanation for why we can
- & will
- overcome the challenges of the future such as climate change & the population boom Bold & controversial it is a brilliantly confident assertion that the 21st century will be the best for humankind yet