Matt Ridley's Book Recommendations

"Fascinating and frightening."

"Freezing Order by @billbrowder is a fascinating and frightening book. Also a useful road map for navigating the obstacles we face in trying to take on an even bigger totalitarian regime in Viral."

"Turned evolutionary biology on its head and was written like a great detective story."

"I have just finished reading a very, very good book. Gasp-inducingly surprising again and again. Funny. Lyrical. Grand. Ingenious. Mysterious. Sad. Gripping. It's about an aunt. It's true...in the end. It's called Kiss Myself Goodbye, by Ferdinand Mount."

"A truly magnificent book from a truly fine scientist."

"This book is stuffed full of intriguing and lively stories about everything from violins to high jumps, all pointing to a valuable insight: that people do more of things that work and less of things that don't, thus causing human society to evolve."

""Since most animals have shorter lifespans than us and no welfare state, they are genetically adapting faster to the concrete world than we are. A fascinating book by Menno Schilthuizen "Darwin Comes to Town" documents how wide and deep this urban wildlife evolutionary pulse is.""

"A fascinating book"

"@arupthenomad Jennifer doudna’s book."

"It's a terrific book."

"Outstanding."

"A brilliant new analysis of the origin of life, by the man who has himself done more than anybody to crack the problem."

"[A fabulous chance] to eavesdrop on science in the making."

"Mixes hard science with soft nature in a satisfying way."

"The account of the 1920s Everest expeditions."

"A charming account of the events of 1927 in America."

"A delightful verse novel about philosophy."

"A great piece of detective work on a key scientific blunder."

"[Changed] science and [reached] the public."

"Uncovers those who almost found the secret of life."

"Buy this book. I loved it. It’s full of great insights."

"An astonishing literary achievement, and it was about the greatest scientific discovery of the 20th century."

"A fascinating, surprising and beautifully written history of technology, economics, and culture, told through the thread of textiles."

"Matt Ridley recommended this book in a "What Should I Read Next" interview."

"I loved the fact that the hero never once implies that it’s courage, spirit and faith that saves him [...] just lots of practical tinkering and problem-solving: Science the crap out of it."

"This from @KonstantinKisin's fabulous book An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West, is spot on. I have long argued that antivax sentiment is a dreadful mistake, but that well intentioned people have made it much worse. This is why."

"It’s fascinating on how, inch by inch, Augustus and his successors surreptitiously turned a republic into an autocracy."

"If you want a book to read this summer that is a genuine intellectual feast of ideas, I strongly recommend @memesovergenes's book Speech! - how language made us human, written with great eloquence."