Hardback by Fourth Estate, £20 (ebook £14.99)
Evolution is not just confined to the species; according to Matt
Ridley’s account, it is happening all around us. Ridley, author of The
Rational Optimist, likes turning conventional wisdom on its head and
in this book argues that top-down control is never as effective as
bottoms up, evolving change.
On economic matters, Adam Smith is championed over Marx, population control of China’s one child policy passionately dismissed in favour of natural population growth, and many cultural norms including marriage, money, religion and technological innovation are portrayed as being evolutionary practices, not delivered by Great Men or human top-down systems.
The politics is libertarian; reading from a UK perspective, positing a
private alternative to NHS or voicing climate change scepticism
certainly offers an alternative voice to some broad consensus views.
Politicians regularly quoted include UKIP MP Douglas Carswell and
Republican Senator Rand Paul, so whilst the evolutionary theory is
fascinating and ultimately optimistic about the future of the human
species, the arguments on society may fail to break through to the
mainstream.
