★ Another accessible work on economic and social evolution, following international bestsellers such as “The Rational Optimist: A History of the Human Future,” “Genome: The Autobiography of a Species,” and “Up & Down: A Brief History of Evolution.”
★ By Matt Ridley, a multi-award-winning, million-selling author, a renowned British science writer, and a visiting professor at the internationally acclaimed Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL).
★ Published by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), one of the most influential think tanks shaping modern British history.
★ This book explains, in clear and straightforward terms, the crucial role of “innovation” in social and economic development, urging us to cast off mental constraints, transcend our limited understanding of innovation, and keep the engine of human progress running smoothly.

Almost everyone knows that Thomas Edison invented the electric light, but if Edison had never invented it, would we still be living in darkness today? The renowned writer Matt Ridley explains that at least twenty other individuals could have led humanity to that groundbreaking moment, because the incandescent light bulb was the product of a convergence of technologies and an accumulation of knowledge that was bound to emerge sooner or later. In his 2018 Hayek Memorial Lecture, Ridley argued that the process through which inventions and innovations are born, develop, and ultimately reach commercialization remains one of the most important unresolved challenges in human society. We rely on innovation, yet we do not fully understand it, cannot predict it, and struggle to steer it. In this book, Ridley examines the nature of innovation and invention, as well as the reasons why humans often hesitate to embrace its fruits. He refutes the claim that robots and automation will destroy jobs, demonstrating instead how innovation drives economic growth. He contends that intellectual property, originally intended to spur innovation, is now wielded by large corporations to entrench their monopolies. Ridley concludes that innovation remains an elusive and undervalued force for humanity—something we rarely discuss in depth, yet frequently obstruct and whose value we consistently underestimate.

Matt Ridley is a renowned British science writer, journalist, scientist, businessman, and member of the House of Lords. With profound writing skills, rigorous thinking, and a witty style, he is best known for his works on science, the environment, and economics, which have been published in 30 languages worldwide and have sold over one million copies. His acclaimed titles include Genome: The Autobiography of a Species; Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human; Up & Down: A Short History of Evolution; and The Origins of Sex, most of which have also been published in China. His writings have been shortlisted for six major literary awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Award for Best Science Book, and the Samuel Johnson Prize, among others.

Born into a hereditary British aristocratic family as the fifth Viscount Ridley, he was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he majored in zoology and earned a doctorate. After completing his PhD in 1983, he joined The Economist as a science editor, later serving as its Washington correspondent and becoming a columnist for The Daily Telegraph. From 1994 to 2007, he entered the financial sector due to family commitments. Following the financial crisis, he wrote columns for The Wall Street Journal from 2010 to 2013 and has since contributed science, environmental, and economic pieces to Time magazine.

Matt Ridley also holds a visiting professorship at the globally prestigious Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, a hallowed site in the life sciences and the cradle of molecular biology. Ranked among the world’s ten most influential research institutions, it has produced eight Nobel laureates. He is also the founding chairman and lifelong president of the Newcastle International Centre for Life, a nonprofit research center established in Newcastle by Her Majesty the Queen in 2000.