The Evolution of Everything (Matt Ridley, 2015)

Ridley consistently expresses ideas with which I already agree (as for example in this book), so I was a little worried that this latest book of his might not have much value.  The good news:  he knows a lot more than me, can express it far better, and can pull threads together in ways I'd never see - so yes, it was well worthwhile.

Started a bit slowly - the theme is explaining how everything evolves on a bottoms-up basis - yet so much talk at the opening about how a "great man" - in this case, Lucretius - figured out so much and influenced so many.  But then the author found his way.

The core idea:  when reasonably free, humans are creative, innovative, collaborative - and will work out generally effective decentralized solutions based on local needs.  Freedom is limited by forces such as government and religion and incumbents in any field.  This certainly is not a new idea - and history seems to bear out its accuracy repeatedly - yet we live in an era when the intelligentsia (aka the "clerisy" in Deirdre McCloskey's terminology) clamors for centralized control and planning.  Politicians of course feed this relentlessly - their power depends on getting voters to believe that the politician has some sort of grand plan to make everything wonderful (or great again, if that's your taste).  And voters, understandably, wish to believe this - despite all the evidence to the contrary.

How much better if the clerisy just backed off - and just stated something like this:  "our ability to manage from the center is limited, we promise to "do less" and that approach will make us all better off in the long run."  This would be honest, and consistent with what history shows.  It also would be a formula for electoral disaster.  And loss of government-funded jobs-for-experts.  Not going to happen; the best we can hope is that somehow Leviathan is slowed a bit from time to time.

All the chapters are worthwhile, even if Ridley jumps around a bit.  Probably my favorites were (1) the chapter on the evolution of technology - how science follows the tinkerers, and grand government-funded scientific initiatives tend to misallocate resources - and (2) the chapter on education - how bizarre that the clerisy that rightly condemns monopoly in any business setting insists on monopolies in education - it didn't, and doesn't, have to be that way.

Recommended by Paul Jr., I'd share the recommendation.