{"product_id":"fewer-richer-greener-isbn-9781119526896","title":"Fewer, Richer, Greener","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow the world has become \u003ci\u003emuch better \u003c\/i\u003eand why optimism is abundantly justified\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhy do so many people fear the future? Is their concern justified, or can we look forward to greater wealth and continued improvement in the way we live?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOur world seems to be experiencing stagnant economic growth, climatic deterioration, dwindling natural resources, and an unsustainable level of population growth. The world is doomed, they argue, and there are just too many problems to overcome\u003ci\u003e. But is this really the case?\u003c\/i\u003e In \u003ci\u003eFewer, Richer, Greener\u003c\/i\u003e, author Laurence B. Siegel reveals that the world has \u003ci\u003eimproved\u003c\/i\u003e—and will continue to improve—in almost every dimension imaginable.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis practical yet lighthearted book makes a convincing case for having gratitude for today’s world and optimism about the bountiful world of tomorrow. Life has actually \u003ci\u003eimproved\u003c\/i\u003e tremendously. We live in the safest, most prosperous time in all human history. Whatever the metric—food, health, longevity, education, conflict—it is demonstrably true that \u003ci\u003eright now\u003c\/i\u003e is the best time to be alive. The recent, dramatic slowing in global population growth continues to spread prosperity from the developed to the developing world. Technology is helping billions of people rise above levels of mere subsistence. This technology of prosperity is cumulative and rapidly improving: we use it to solve problems in ways that would have be unimaginable only a few decades ago. An optimistic antidote for pessimism and fear, this book:\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003eHelps to restore and reinforce our faith in the future\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eDocuments and explains how global changes impact our present and influence our future\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eDiscusses the costs and unforeseen consequences of some of the changes occurring in the modern world\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eOffers engaging narrative, accurate data and research, and an in-depth look at the best books on the topic by leading thinkers\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eTraces the history of economic progress and explores its consequences for human life around the world\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFewer, Richer, Greener: Prospects for Humanity in an Age of Abundance \u003c\/i\u003eis a must-read for anyone who wishes to regain hope for the present and wants to build a better future.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eForeword vii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePreface xiii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments xvii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart I The Great Betterment\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1 Right Here, Right Now 3\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart II Fewer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 The Population Explosion, Malthus, and the Ghost of Christmas Present 19\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e3 The Demographic Transition: Running Out of and Into People 31\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e4 Having Fewer Children: “People Respond to Incentives” 43\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e5 Age Before Beauty: Life in an Aging Society 59\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart III Richer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6 Before the Great Enrichment: The Year 1 to 1750 79\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e7 The Great Enrichment: 1750 to Today 89\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e8 Food 101\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e9 Health and Longevity 121\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e10 Energy: A BTU is a Unit of Work You Don’t Have to Do 135\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e11 Cities 155\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e12 Education: The Third Democratization 171\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e13 Conflict, Safety, and Freedom 191\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e14 The Alleviation of Poverty 217\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart IV Explorations\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e15 Robots Don’t Work for Free: A Meditation on Technology and Jobs 245\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e16 The Mismeasurement of Growth: Why You Aren’t Driving a Model T 269\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e17 \u003ci\u003eThe Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie\u003c\/i\u003e: Deirdre McCloskey, Capitalism, and Christian Ethics 285\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e18 Simon and Ehrlich: Cornucopianism versus the Limits to Growth 299\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e19 Obstacles 305\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e20 “He Shall Laugh”: Why Weren’t Our Ancestors Miserable All the Time? 319\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart V Greener\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e21 Prologue: Why Poor is Brown and Rich is Green 331\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e22 A Skeptical Environmentalist: The Greening World of Bjørn Lomborg 339\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e23 Dematerialization: Where Did My Record Collection Go? 355\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e24 “We are as Gods”: The Fertile Mind of Stewart Brand 369\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e25 Ecomodernism: A Way Forward 379\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAfterword 403\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eReader’s Guide: Annotated Suggestions for Further Learning 407\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eReferences 415\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndex 439\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLAURENCE B. SIEGEL\u003c\/b\u003e is the Gary P. Brinson Director of Research at the CFA Institute Research Foundation and a writer, speaker, and consultant specializing in economics and investment management. Siegel is the author of more than 200 articles on investing and related topics. He has won many writing awards including the Graham and Dodd Award, Bernstein Fabozzi\/Jacobs Levy Award, and the EDHEC\/Robeco Award.   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe news is filled with doomsday stories claiming our world is experiencing stagnant economic growth, environmental deterioration, dwindling natural resources, and an unsustainable increase in world population. For years we've been told that the population explosion will lead to impoverishment and perhaps kill us all. \u003ci\u003eFewer, Richer, Greener: Prospects for Humanity in an Age of Abundance\u003c\/i\u003e debunks these notions and explains that we will have fewer people than we were expecting, we will become richer, and, perhaps most surprisingly, that the planet will become \u003ci\u003egreener.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile there are always reasons for concern, Laurence Siegel explains that we have more reasons to be optimistic about the future than not. Life has improved greatly in the last 250 years; \u003ci\u003eFewer, Richer, Greener\u003c\/i\u003e makes the argument that it will continue to improve in almost every aspect including health, wealth, longevity, nutrition, literacy, peace, and freedom. Without ignoring the many challenges on the path of progress, the book helps restore faith in the future and offers an understanding of why hope is justified. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFewer, Richer, Greener\u003c\/i\u003e is written in a lucid and witty style, filled with art, architecture, poetry, and personal reflection as well as accurate data and research, and offers an in-depth look at the best books on the topic by leading thinkers. Designed to transform conventional thinking, the book makes a convincing case for having gratitude for today's world and optimism about the bountiful world of tomorrow. We can look forward to technology that makes life more pleasant and interesting and enables more people to have access to the rich cultural legacy of millennia of human accomplishment. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSiegel reveals that we are at a turning point where the economic development of the past 200 years in the first world has begun to spread to the rest of the globe. This future will not be without problems, but we will have the knowledge and technology to solve problems in ways that would have been unimaginable only a few decades ago.\t   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow the world has improved and why \u003ci\u003eoptimism about the future\u003c\/i\u003e is abundantly justified\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A Condorcet for today, Siegel argues persuasively and vividly that human ingenuity triumphs over limits to growth. A wonderful antidote to apocalyptic predictions about humanity's future. It's easy to forget that, in the span of a single lifetime, the lives of billions have been improved and enriched by innovation and progress.\" \u003cb\u003e —Professor William N. Goetzmann,\u003c\/b\u003e Yale University, author of \u003ci\u003eMoney Changes Everything: How   Finance Made Civilization Possible\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Somewhere between Rev. Thomas Malthus and Voltaire's Dr. Pangloss lies Larry Siegel. Bringing the same sharp analysis, wit, and willingness to break with conventional wisdom that he's applied to investment analysis for many years, Larry is a welcome voice of measured optimism in a world chock full of doomsayers. He doesn't shy away from real problems—but he puts paid to the notion that things are getting worse and worse and that we're all doomed.\" \u003cb\u003e —Cliff Asness,\u003c\/b\u003e founder, AQR \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A refreshing look at the state of the world—food, health and longevity, energy, cities, education, freedom, poverty, robots, economic growth, the environment—through the eyes of one of today's most perceptive observers, \u003ci\u003eFewer, Richer, Greener\u003c\/i\u003e will entertain, amuse, and enlighten in a way that few other books can. Read, enjoy, and learn—Siegel sees our uncertain future through a completely different set of lenses.\" \u003cb\u003e —William J. Bernstein,\u003c\/b\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eA Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World  \u003c\/i\u003e and\u003ci\u003e The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World Was Created\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"That great explainer of everything to everybody.\" \u003cb\u003e —Richard Flannery,\u003c\/b\u003e CEO of The Investment Fund for Foundations \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The arc of history shows we're living longer, getting richer, warring less, and enjoying more freedom. And it's going to continue, naysayers and pessimists be damned. That's the message in Larry Siegel's new book, \u003ci\u003eFewer, Richer, Greener\u003c\/i\u003e. Siegel is a polymath with a wonderful ability to explain and support his views without being pompous or preachy. Exploring the nexus of demography, economics, science, and history, Larry provides an honest, clear-eyed view of the present and a realistic, refreshingly optimistic view of the future.\" \u003cb\u003e —Lee A. Kaplan, M.D.,\u003c\/b\u003e former Director of Clinical Dermatology, University of California San Diego\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wiley","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47989204025573,"sku":"NP9781119526896","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781119526896.jpg?v=1761783197","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/fewer-richer-greener-isbn-9781119526896","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}