“Read this book and find out why, if you are not an optimist, you should be.”
—Vernon L. Smith, Nobel Prize‐winning economist and George L. Argyros Endowed Chair in Finance and Economics, Chapman University
“If you learn about the world through daily news and social media, you have probably missed the greatest stories of our time. But don’t worry, you’ll quickly catch up with this tour de force. It will make you smarter—and happier. I am a card‐carrying optimist, but Ronald Bailey and Marian Tupy manage to make even me more hopeful about humanity.”
—Johan Norberg, author of Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future, named by The Economist as one of the best books of 2016
“This is an astonishing collection of positive trends. I want every young person to see it and begin to escape the indoctrination in pessimism they have been subjected to by the media and the education system. Making the world a much better place is clearly possible.”
—Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves and How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom
“In these dark times, it is good to remember just how far mankind has come, and how many seemingly impossible problems have been overcome. Keep this book at hand, open it at random, and it will fill you with hope for the future.”
—Angus S. Deaton, Nobel Prize–winning economist and Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus, Princeton University
“There are two ways to understand the world: a constant drip of anecdotes about the worst things that have happened anywhere on the planet in the previous hour, or a bird’s‑eye view of the grand developments that are transforming the human condition. The first is called ‘the news,’ and for your wisdom and mental health I recommend balancing it with the second. Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know is a pleasure: gorgeous, self‐contained vignettes on human progress, which you can sample at your leisure or devour in a sitting.”
—Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
