Nick's review
A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World by Gregory Clark
Greg Clark has an interesting take on the origins of the Industrial Revolution and what he calls the Great Divergence in the development of various nations, the divergence between the rich and poor nations. He also offers some interesting and controversial speculations. Clark's basic point seems to be that the Industrial Revolution was an evolutionary process and only appears to be a discontinuity with all previous economic history. To say more would perhaps undermine his argument, but I will say that Clark makes a persuasive case for incremental increases in innovation and incremental changes in social behavior that tended to make innovation more acceptable. Worth reading.
