TY  - GEN
AU  - Ridley, Matt
TI  - Rational optimist: how prosperity evolves
SN  - 9780061452062
U1  - 128 
PY  - 2011///
CY  - New York
PB  - Happer
N2  - CONTENT
Prologue: when ideas have sex                                               1
1   A better today: the unprecedented present                       11
2   The collective brain: 
      exchange and specialization after 200,000 years ago     47
3   The manufacture of virtue: 
      barter, trust and rules after 50,000 years ago                  85   
4   The feeding of the nine billion:
     farming after 10,000 years ago                                      112
5   The triumph of cities: trade after 5,000 years ago         157
6   Escaping Malthus's trap: population after 1200            191
7   The release of slaves: energy after 1700                       213
8   The invention of invention: 
      increasing returns after 1800                                        247
9   Turning points: pessimism after 1900                           279
10 The two great pessimisms of today:
      Africa and climate after 2010                                       313
11 The catallaxy: rational optimism about 2100                349 

Postscript                                                                             361
 Acknowledgements                                                            365
 Notes and references                                                          369 
Index                                                                                    427

ER  -