The Evolution of Everything: How Ideas Emerge
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The Evolution of Everything: How Ideas Emerge
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Narrated by:
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Steven Crossley
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By:
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Matt Ridley
About this listen
We are taught that the world is a top-down place. Acclaimed author, Matt Ridley, shows just how wrong this is in his compelling new book.
We are taught that the world is a top-down place. Generals win battles; politicians run countries; scientists discover truths; artists create genres; inventors make breakthroughs; teachers shape minds; philosophers change minds; priests teach morality; businessmen lead businesses; environmentalists save the planet. Not just individuals, but institutions too: Goldman Sachs, the Communist Party, the Catholic Church, Al Qaeda – these are said to shape the world.
This is more often wrong than right. ‘The Evolution of Everything’ is about bottom-up order and its enemy, the top-down twitch, the endless fascination human beings have for design rather than evolution, for direction rather than emergence. Top downery is the source of most of our worst problems in the past – why Hitler won an election, why the sub-prime bubble happened, why Africa lingered in poverty when Asia did not, why the euro is a disaster – and will be the scourge of this century too.
And although we neglect, defy and ignore them, bottom-up trends still shape the world. The growth of technology, the sanitation-driven health revolution, the quadrupling of farm yields so that more land could be released for nature – these were largely emergent phenomena. So was the internet, the mobile phone revolution and the rise of Asia.
In this wide-ranging, highly opinionated non-fiction narrative, Ridley draws on anecdotes from science, economics, history, politics and philosophy and examples drawn from the scientific literature, from historical narratives and from personal anecdotes.
©2015 Matt Ridley (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers LimitedListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
‘He argues we live in a bottom-up world…a compelling argument and in this fascinating work, an evolution from Ridley’s other books, such as The Rational Optimist of The Origins of Virtue, he takes it to all realms of knowledge and how new ideas emerge… Ridley has amassed such a weight of fascinating evidence and anecdote that the pages fly by’ Ed Conway, The Times
‘Intriguing and artfully argued’ Ian Critchly, The Sunday Times
‘This is a book of remarkable scope (when Ridley says everything, he isn’t exaggerating), clearly written by a polymath who reads whatever is interesting, old and new. What’s more, it does not have the feel of a book written on commission so much as one that has been slowly assembling its own emergent thesis over time, tentatively testing and sometimes rejecting ideas along the way. As so often in nature, something wonderful has thereby come about’ Literary Review
‘The book displays his wide and deep knowledge of many different fields. It is fast paced and elegantly written. Few readers will come away without fresh information and a challenge to their preconceptions’ Prospect
‘Readable, provocative and infuriating’ New Statesman
What listeners say about The Evolution of Everything: How Ideas Emerge
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Katty
- 06-11-18
Fascinating book, incredibly interesting
Wow. What a book! I'm not going to lie, it was little slow to get used to language of the author. Intelligent and provocative ideas at times challenged my own perception. It's the type of book you read or listen to when you can give it your full attention, otherwise you'll miss bits of it. I'll be listening to it again.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonimo Nonlodico
- 03-05-16
An explanation and defence of the spontaneous order
Refreshing, intelligent and optimistic book, correcting widespread and ingrained biases. Valuable perspective on life and liberty.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- James
- 13-07-21
A startlingly persuasive case for liberty
Particularly pertinent at a time when the removal of liberty, for "the greater good", is accepted wisdom.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- K. Rumph
- 14-08-16
Some fascinating insights, if overwrought
I found the some of the examples of unplanned evolutionary thinking novel, fascinating and convincing, although others tried to push the argument too far and the increasingly strident libertarian agenda felt 'top down'
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Tinckelly
- 07-11-15
Exceptional book.
Whilst 'Creationism' is roundly mocked in religion it is alive and well in every other aspect of modern thought. With this book Matt Ridley neatly dissects the 'skyhook' thinking of modern life.
Should be required reading in our bizarre age that is obsessed with central planning.
Highly recommended.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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- Michael J Birdsall
- 08-07-19
Self contradictory
Ridley's other books are much better. This one presents ideas that are extreme because he is so intent on defending the view that everything is bottom up evolution.
In particular, his section on the absence of free will is cringe worthy. His evidence is scientific papers, which he makes clear later should only be considered descriptive not prescriptive. Then the entire book is about getting people to behave in a way more consistent with bottom up systems, yet if free will really doesn't exist, why bother trying to convince us of anything. Our genes will make the decisions they are going to make regardless of what books we read.
Further he cherry picks evidence giving a false impression of the science. Epigenetics is presented as pseudoscience. These paragraphs will age poorly, as the research continues to confirm epigenetics. Science doesn't care if it contradicts Ridley's world view.
It is still with reading as less extreme views of the same information is generally interesting and likely valuable.
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