Matt Ridley
Born: February 07, 1958 – Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Matt Ridley is a British science writer and journalist known for exploring genetics, evolution, economics, and innovation. His notable works include Genome, The Red Queen, and The Rational Optimist. Ridley's books have been shortlisted for major prizes, translated widely, and recognized for their influence on public understanding of science and progress.
Biography & Author's Journey
Matt Ridley was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1958 into a family with a distinguished public service and architectural heritage. His early education at Eton College laid the groundwork for his entry into Magdalen College, Oxford, where he earned first-class honors in zoology. Building on his academic prowess, Ridley pursued a Doctor of Philosophy at Oxford, focusing his research on avian behavior and evolutionary biology. These formative academic experiences provided a strong scientific foundation that would later distinguish his writing and analytical approach.
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Explores how sex shapes human nature, evolution, and culture through a witty, scientific lens of evolutionary biology.
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A captivating journey through human DNA, exploring genes' roles in disease, behavior, and evolution across 23 chromosome pairs.
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A compelling case for optimism, exploring how human progress and prosperity evolve through trade, specialization, and innovation throughout history.
How Innovation Works
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Exploring innovation as a gradual, collective, and serendipitous process driven by human exchange and freedom.
The evolution of everything
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A provocative exploration of how bottom-up evolution, not top-down design, shapes our world, from technology to culture.
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Explores how sex shapes human nature, evolution, and culture through a witty, scientific lens of evolutionary biology.
Genome
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A captivating journey through human DNA, exploring genes' roles in disease, behavior, and evolution across 23 chromosome pairs.
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Community Voices
"Ridley's magnum opus, decades in the making, argues that change in technology, language, and society emerges from interactions of millions"
— The Independent
"Matt Ridley's biography of Francis Crick won the Davis Prize for the history of science from the US History of Science Society"
— US History of Science Society
"The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley was shortlisted for the 2011 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize"
— BBC Samuel Johnson Prize
"Matt Ridley makes a sustained polemic on behalf of libertarian anti-State ideas not a million miles from those of the US Republican Tea Party"
— The Independent
"Ridley was inspired by the Roman poet Lucretius's work on atheistical atomism, whose arguments seem uncannily modern like those of Richard Dawkins"
— The Independent
"Ridley is a heretic on most counts, with a book that has many excesses but is necessary reading"
— The Independent
"Matt Ridley's Genome was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2000"
— Samuel Johnson Prize
