Updates

  1. Person pages list letters, writing, profiles and links as sortable tables with filters, and show each person's companies as links; Fund letters show each letter's description in its own column.
  2. Experts show a checked job title and a short description of each person; 30 more people have photographs.
  3. Every company, fund, university and publication the experts work for has a page listing the people there.
  4. Fund letters show each letter's thesis and filter by it; 225 person pages list the essays, columns and newsletter issues the person wrote.
  5. Person pages list every essay and newsletter issue a person wrote, and their own books as a table in List view.
  6. Recommends shows the five largest kinds of book and the rest under More; browse pictures load sooner.
  7. Podcasts and talks link the original episode, filter by Audio and video or Press, and list each publisher once.
  8. Pages are wider, Recommends has List and Grid, and a filter clicked again turns off.
  9. Book cards sit in a ruled grid with Open Library and Goodreads links and each book's one-line note.
  10. Funds is now Investors; each investor's styles are buttons that filter the table.
  11. Podcasts and talks on a person's page filter by year and publisher and show as a list or a grid of pictures.
  12. Quotes show only people's own words: 472 summaries written by list sites are gone.
  13. Country pages open from Browse again, and every link on the shelf lands on a page.
  14. Subject and person pages show their sections as tabs, and each book appears once on a person's page.
  15. Book cards show the quote, who said it and the source; grids show five cards to a row.
  16. On a phone, a menu holds the sections, search, Updates, Feedback and dark mode.
  17. Feedback takes a screenshot of the page with no browser prompt, opens a screenshot full size when you click it, and clears itself once sent.
  18. Book cards are centred, search names the topic each book sits in, and any text cut short shows whole on hover.
  19. Search groups its results by kind: people, companies, geographies, subjects, topics, books, funds, fund letters and papers.
  20. The Books table lists who recommended each book by name, and the browser tab names the section you are in.
  21. Feedback can take a screenshot of the page, or one you paste or choose, and opens in the corner beside Updates.
  22. Each rail button reopens its section where you left it, and Browse, Table and People show on every book and subject page.
  23. Filters grey out choices that hold nothing instead of hiding them, and Books › People filters by authors or recommenders.
  24. Feedback takes a subject line and up to three screenshots.
  25. Biographies are grouped by the person they are about: 41 new pages, from Abraham Lincoln to Lee Kuan Yew.
  26. Sport splits into 23 sports, and Religion into one topic per faith.
  27. Book lists show as cards: the cover, one recommendation quote and every recommender by name.
  28. Seventeen subjects that had two or three pages under different names now have one page each.
  29. Every page lists its Experts as authors and recommenders, with a link to them on the Experts tab.
  30. Economics, Financial history, Financial panics and Accounting are subjects of their own, with one page per financial crisis.
  31. Book, person and subject pages open inside the app, so the tabs stay in view.
  32. 996 more book covers, and photographs or logos for 227 more people and companies.
  33. Books › Browse shows every subject as cards, and the rail holds Fund letters, Papers, Experts, Books and Funds.
  34. Every topic over 150 books splits into narrower topics, each with a page of its own.

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Matt Ridley

T2JournalistsIdeas from outside finance

Writes on science, the environment and economics, often for The Times; chaired Northern Rock from 2004 to 2007, when it suffered the first run on a British bank in 130 years.

House of LordsNorthern Rock

Matt Ridley's blog

The Rational Optimist argues that exchange and specialisation, not individual intelligence, drive rising living standards, and assembles the long-run price and productivity evidence behind the claim. How Innovation Works applies the same method to case histories, showing invention as incremental, collective and largely detached from formal research spending.

9 books of their own · 300 articles

Books 9Writing 300Profiles 1

Start here

  1. The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity EvolvesMatt Ridley, 2010
  2. How Innovation WorksMatt Ridley, 2020
  3. The Origins of VirtueMatt Ridley, 1996
The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity EvolveThe Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves
T2 The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves
Matt Ridley · 2010
Open LibraryGoodreads

Prosperity grows as trade and specialisation let ideas meet and combine.

“…books I've recommended, highlighted to death, or forced on friends.” — Andrew Wilkinson

Source: Andrew Wilkinson's Bookshelf, neverenough.com

Recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson, Bill Gates, Frank Martin and 10 others

How Innovation WorksHow Innovation Works
T2 How Innovation Works
Matt Ridley · 2020
Open LibraryGoodreads

Innovation is gradual, collective and bottom-up, not the work of lone inventors.

“It's a must-read for entrepreneurs and government officials who want to either be innovative themselves or foster innovation.” — Naval Ravikant

Source: Nav.al — 'Matt Ridley: How Innovation Works, Part 2'

Recommended by: Naval Ravikant, Balaji S. Srinivasan

The Origins of VirtueThe Origins of Virtue
T2 The Origins of Virtue
Matt Ridley · 1996
Open LibraryGoodreads

How cooperation and morality evolved from self-interest, via the prisoner's dilemma.

“I really highly, highly recommend picking up Genome, The Red Queen, Origins of Virtue, The Rational Optimist, and The Evolution of Everything.” — Naval Ravikant

Source: The Tim Ferriss Show — Naval Ravikant Q&A, full transcript

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Naval Ravikant, Ryan Holiday

The Evolution of Everything
T2 The Evolution of Everything
Matt Ridley · 2015
Open LibraryGoodreads

Big changes in human affairs emerge from the bottom up rather than by design.

Recommended by: Naval Ravikant

The Red QueenThe Red Queen
T2 The Red Queen
Matt Ridley · 1993
Open LibraryGoodreads

Sex evolved as a defence against parasites, and that shapes human mating.

“I really highly, highly recommend picking up Genome, The Red Queen, Origins of Virtue, The Rational Optimist, and The Evolution of Everything.” — Naval Ravikant

Source: The Tim Ferriss Show — Naval Ravikant Q&A, full transcript

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Naval Ravikant, Seth Klarman and 1 other

GenomeGenome
T2 Genome
Matt Ridley · 1999
Open LibraryGoodreads

Twenty-three chapters, one per chromosome, each using a gene to open a subject.

“I highly recommend Genome as well, to figure out the rational basis behind ethics and the origin of virtue.” — Naval Ravikant

Source: Nav.al — 'Matt Ridley: How Innovation Works, Part 2' (Naval's podcast, edited transcript)

Recommended by: Charlie Munger, Mohnish Pabrai and 2 others

Nature Via NurtureNature Via Nurture
T2 Nature Via Nurture
Matt Ridley · 2003
Open LibraryGoodreads

How genes and experience interact, each shaping how the other acts.

Recommended by: Naval Ravikant

The Agile GeneThe Agile Gene
T2 The Agile Gene
Matt Ridley
Goodreads

How genes and experience interact, each shaping how the other acts.

Recommended by: Naval Ravikant

Francis CrickFrancis Crick
T2 Francis Crick
Matt Ridley · 2006
Open LibraryGoodreads

Francis Crick's life, from a lacklustre education to discovering DNA's structure.

Recommended by: Naval Ravikant

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity EvolvesProsperity grows as trade and specialisation let ideas meet and combine.2010T2Andrew Wilkinson, Bill Gates, Frank Martin and 10 others
How Innovation WorksInnovation is gradual, collective and bottom-up, not the work of lone inventors.2020T2Naval Ravikant, Balaji S. Srinivasan
The Origins of VirtueHow cooperation and morality evolved from self-interest, via the prisoner's dilemma.1996T2Mohnish Pabrai, Naval Ravikant, Ryan Holiday
The Evolution of EverythingBig changes in human affairs emerge from the bottom up rather than by design.2015T2Naval Ravikant
The Red QueenSex evolved as a defence against parasites, and that shapes human mating.1993T2Mohnish Pabrai, Naval Ravikant, Seth Klarman and 1 others
GenomeTwenty-three chapters, one per chromosome, each using a gene to open a subject.1999T2Charlie Munger, Mohnish Pabrai, Naval Ravikant and 1 others
Nature Via NurtureHow genes and experience interact, each shaping how the other acts.2003T2Naval Ravikant
The Agile GeneHow genes and experience interact, each shaping how the other acts.T2Naval Ravikant
Francis CrickFrancis Crick's life, from a lacklustre education to discovering DNA's structure.2006T2Naval Ravikant

Tags

biotechnologyinnovationtrade-and-specialisationevolutiongenomicsprogresslong-run-growth