The Ratchet of Technology, a site by Michael Magoon

A Library of 280+ Book Summaries on Technology, History, Economic Growth & Progress

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Tag: Progress and Change

November 1, 2021December 7, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “More From Less” by Andrew McAfee

June 18, 2021December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis” by Ruth DeFries

May 25, 2021November 21, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet” by Ramez Naam

May 17, 2021December 7, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Abundance: The Future Is Better than You Think” by Diamandis and Kotler

May 14, 2021December 7, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Factfulness: Why Things are Better Than You Think” by Hans Rosling

May 12, 2021December 7, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Enlightenment Now” by Steven Pinker

May 11, 2021December 7, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know” by Bailey and Tupy

April 30, 2021December 7, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Future Perfect: The Case for Progress In a Networked Age” by Steven Johnson

April 30, 2021June 22, 2021 Michael Magoon

Follow my new blog

March 30, 2021December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “A History of World Agriculture” by Mazoyer and Roudart

March 29, 2021December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Rulers, Religion, and Riches” by Jared Rubin

March 23, 2021November 20, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Uncontrolled: The Surprising Payoff of Trial-and-Error… ” by Jim Stanzi

March 17, 2021December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The WIERDest People in the World” by Joseph Henrich

February 16, 2021December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations” by Robert Bryce

January 27, 2021December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “First Farmers” by David Bellwood

January 26, 2021December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Box: How the Shipping Container…” by Marc Levinson

January 25, 2021December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “How the Old World Ended: The Anglo-Dutch-American Revolution 1500-1800” by Jonathan Scott

January 9, 2021October 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

Read my new book

December 7, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Hive Mind: How Your Nation’s IQ Matter More than Your Own” by Garett Jones

May 21, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Where Good Ideas Come From” by Steven Johnson

May 20, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Emergence: the Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software” by Steven Johnson

May 19, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

May 18, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

May 7, 2020November 21, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Power to the People: Energy in Europe over the Last Five Centuries” by Kander et al

May 7, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence…” by Charles Murray

May 5, 2020December 7, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves” by Matt Ridley

April 25, 2020November 21, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “World on Fire” by Amy Chua

April 24, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Migration and Culture” by Thomas Sowell

April 23, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Conquests and Cultures” by Thomas Sowell

April 22, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Why Europe?: The Rise of the West…” by Jack Goldstone

April 22, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Replenishing the Earth: The Settler Revolution and the Rise of the Angloworld” by James Belich

April 21, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: The Making of Europe… 950-1350” by Robert Bartlett

April 13, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Nature’s Magic: Synergy in Evolution…” by Peter Corning

April 11, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Fifty Inventions that Shaped the Modern Economy” by Tim Harford

April 8, 2020March 18, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure” by Tim Harford

April 8, 2020November 21, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge” by Matt Ridley

April 7, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Ultrasociety: How 10,000 Years of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators…” by Peter Turchin

April 1, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Tyranny of Experts” by William Easterly

March 29, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created” by William J. Bernstein

March 11, 2020November 21, 2021 Michael Magoon

Course Summary: “Principles of Human Ecology” by Peter Richerson et al

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Top Posts & Pages

  • Book Summary: “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human” by Richard Wrangham
  • Book Summary: “The Tragedy of Great Power Politics” by John Mearsheimer
  • Book Summary: "Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World" by Walter Russell Mead
  • Book Summary: “Kicking Away the Ladder” by Ha-Joon Chang
  • Book Summary: “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers” by Paul Kennedy

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