Matt Ridley
Genome
Genome follows the human genome from the chemistry of heredity through evolution, disease, behavior, ageing, biotechnology, and reproductive choice. It asks what genes can explain, where environment and history intervene, and how genetic knowledge should inform medicine and our understanding of freedom.
15 chapters
The Origins of Virtue
The book asks how humans became capable of virtue and cooperation without eliminating self-interest. It traces nested biological collaboration, reciprocity, food sharing, moral emotion, cultural groupishness, trade, property, and self-government, showing why these capacities can sustain trust yet also produce conflict and ecological failure.
10 chapters
The Rational Optimist
The Rational Optimist asks why human living standards have risen despite scarcity, conflict, disease, and repeated forecasts of collapse. Matt Ridley traces progress to exchange, specialization, trust, institutions, energy, and cumulative innovation, then tests those mechanisms against population, agriculture, Africa, and climate. The result is a framework for judging change without denying risk or suffering.
14 chapters