Author Description

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves challenges the prevailing pessimism about the future by showing how innovation, exchange, and human ingenuity have consistently driven progress. Drawing on history, economics, biology, and anthropology, Matt Ridley argues that life is getting better-and will continue to improve-when people are free to trade, specialize, and share ideas. From the evolution of cooperation to the digital age, Ridley demonstrates that prosperity is not the result of central planning or luck, but of millions of ordinary people exchanging goods, services, and knowledge. This sweeping narrative explains why poverty has declined, lifespans have increased, and human creativity continues to solve problems that once seemed insurmountable. Engaging, accessible, and optimistic, The Rational Optimist makes the case that the story of humanity is one of progress through exchange. This Farsi translation brings Ridley's influential ideas to Persian-speaking readers for the first time, offering a hopeful and evidence-based perspective on the future.