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A review by marc129
The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge by Matt Ridley
2.0
I was very excited when I read the introduction to this book: finally someone who confirms that history is not so much driven top-down, but rather is the result of thousands of small decisions and behaviors, and thus always 'emergent'. But when I started reading the different chapters, that enthusiasm gradually died down, sometimes even turning into outright annoyance. Ridley seems to have written a political pamphlet in which he systematically downplays everything that has to do with government, design or planning. Of course, he is right that many topdown decisions, or design and planning in general, have negative or adverse effects. But to then vehemently throw the baby out with the bathwater, that is clearly a bridge too far.
His previous book, [b:The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves|7776209|The Rational Optimist How Prosperity Evolves|Matt Ridley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347664546l/7776209._SY75_.jpg|10684114], did already contain some hints in that direction, but I still liked that book quite well. Here the libertarian-conservative that Ridley is (until recently he sat in the British House of Lords) clearly goes over the moon. Beware, he regularly offers interesting arguments, but his evidence usually rests on a very narrow basis; in most cases he seems to have consulted only 1 study about a certain problem, cherry picking his way through (like where he takes over the very controversial theory that the islamic religion didn't start in Arabia, but in Palestine). And in some cases his arguments are downright wrong or he contradicts himself. Take his analysis of what went wrong in the 2008 financial crisis: according to him, this was not the result of too far-reaching liberalization of the financial markets, but, on the contrary, of just too much government control and influence.
At times Ridley's views are tantalizing and thought provoking, but regularly he misses the mark completely out of ideological blindness. I'm afraid this was a turn off. More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4422761323
His previous book, [b:The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves|7776209|The Rational Optimist How Prosperity Evolves|Matt Ridley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347664546l/7776209._SY75_.jpg|10684114], did already contain some hints in that direction, but I still liked that book quite well. Here the libertarian-conservative that Ridley is (until recently he sat in the British House of Lords) clearly goes over the moon. Beware, he regularly offers interesting arguments, but his evidence usually rests on a very narrow basis; in most cases he seems to have consulted only 1 study about a certain problem, cherry picking his way through (like where he takes over the very controversial theory that the islamic religion didn't start in Arabia, but in Palestine). And in some cases his arguments are downright wrong or he contradicts himself. Take his analysis of what went wrong in the 2008 financial crisis: according to him, this was not the result of too far-reaching liberalization of the financial markets, but, on the contrary, of just too much government control and influence.
At times Ridley's views are tantalizing and thought provoking, but regularly he misses the mark completely out of ideological blindness. I'm afraid this was a turn off. More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4422761323