The Ratchet of Technology

Book summaries and thoughts on history, technology & progress

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Category: Values & Culture

Books that focus on the role of values and culture on human history. In particular, they seek to identify those that aid development.

January 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Central Liberal Truth” by Lawrence Harrison

November 28, 2020December 7, 2020 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Righteous Mind” by Jonathan Haidt

May 19, 2020May 18, 2020 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World” by Deirdre McCloskey

May 18, 2020May 19, 2020 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can’t Explain the Modern World” by Deirdre McCloskey

April 25, 2020April 23, 2020 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “World on Fire” by Amy Chua

April 23, 2020April 22, 2020 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America” by David Hackett Fisher

February 6, 2020February 6, 2020 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Cultural Evolution: People’s Motivations are Changing” by Ronald Inglehart

January 6, 2020May 3, 2020 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Foragers, Farmers and Fossil Fuels” by Ian Morris

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Top Posts & Pages

  • Book Summary: "The Nature of Technology" by W. Brian Arthur
  • Book Summary: "The Box" by Marc Levinson
  • Book Summary: "The Age of Wood" by Roland Ennos
  • Book Summary: "Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny" by Robert Wright
  • Book Summary: “Ultrasociety: How 10,000 Years of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators on Earth” by Peter Turchin
  • Book Summary: “Why Europe?” by Jack Goldstone
  • Summaries of Top Ten Books
  • Book Summary: “Alchemy of Air” by Thomas Hager
  • My Thoughts

Recent Posts

  • Book Summary: “A Question of Power” by Robert Bryce
  • Book Summary: “First Farmers” by David Bellwood
  • Book Summary: “The Age of Wood” by Roland Ennos
  • Book Summary: “The Box” by Marc Levinson
  • Book Summary: “How the Old World Ended” by Jonathan Scott

Archive

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  • December 2019 (8)
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