The Ratchet of Technology, a site by Michael Magoon

A Library of 150+ Book Summaries on Technology, History & Progress

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Tag: Progress and Change

March 30, 2021April 11, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

March 29, 2021April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

March 23, 2021April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

March 17, 2021April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

February 16, 2021April 19, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

January 27, 2021April 11, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “First Farmers” by David Bellwood

January 26, 2021April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

January 25, 2021April 8, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

January 9, 2021April 10, 2021 Michael Magoon

My new book, “From Poverty to Progress,” is on sale now!

December 7, 2020April 13, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

May 21, 2020March 18, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

May 20, 2020March 18, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

May 19, 2020April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

May 18, 2020April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

May 7, 2020April 19, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

May 7, 2020April 8, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

May 5, 2020March 18, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

April 25, 2020April 14, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “World on Fire” by Amy Chua

April 24, 2020April 14, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Migration and Culture” by Thomas Sowell

April 23, 2020April 14, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Conquests and Cultures” by Thomas Sowell

April 22, 2020April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

April 22, 2020March 18, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

April 21, 2020April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

April 13, 2020April 12, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

April 11, 2020April 12, 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, 2020April 11, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

April 7, 2020April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

April 1, 2020March 18, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

March 29, 2020April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

March 11, 2020April 11, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

January 31, 2020April 11, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution” by Richerson and Boyd

January 29, 2020March 17, 2021 Michael Magoon

Article Summary: “Was the Industrial Revolution Inevitable?” by Charles Jones

January 21, 2020April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Origin of Wealth” by Eric D. Beinhocker

January 10, 2020April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Nature of Technology” by W. Brian Arthur

January 6, 2020April 19, 2021 Michael Magoon

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

January 3, 2020March 18, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Progress” by Johan Norberg

January 2, 2020April 13, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Secret of Our Success” by Joseph Henrich

January 1, 2020April 15, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Creating the Twentieth Century” by Vaclav Smil

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  • Book Summaries (134)
    • About my Summaries (2)
    • Biology & Human History (12)
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    • Digital Technology (1)
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    • Economics in History (5)
    • Energy (5)
    • Food Production in History (9)
    • Geography in History (2)
    • History (4)
    • Human Networks (6)
    • Innovation (3)
    • Institutions in History (7)
    • Migrations (4)
    • Progress (3)
    • Recommended Books (2)
    • Science & Human History (7)
    • Skills, Knowledge and Achievement (5)
    • Technology (16)
    • Values & Culture (9)
    • Violence & War in History (8)
    • Why Europe got Rich (4)
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  • My Thoughts on… (8)
    • Coronavirus (1)
    • Progress and Change (1)
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  • Some Article Summaries (24)
    • Biology and Humans (1)
    • Causes of Economic Development (5)
    • Cultural Evolution (1)
    • Culture and Ethnicity (1)
    • East vs West (5)
    • Geography & Development (3)
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    • Technology, Innovation & Diffusion (6)
  • Uncategorized (1)

Top Posts & Pages

  • Book Summary: “Why Europe?: The Rise of the West...” by Jack Goldstone
  • Book Summary: “Energy and Civilization: A History” by Vaclav Smil
  • Book Summary: “Cultural Evolution: People’s Motivations are Changing” by Ronald Inglehart
  • Book Summary “Escape from Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity” by Walter Scheidel
  • Book Summary: “Cousins’ War: Religion, Politics, Civil War, and the Triumph of the Anglo-America” by Kevin Phillips

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