Matt Ridley is the author of the new book The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves (Harper). He has worked as a zoologist, conservationist, and journalist, and has written such previous, prize-winning books as The Red Queen, The Origins of Virtue, Genome, Nature Via Nurture, and Francis Crick. His books have sold over 800,000 copies and have been translated into twenty-seven languages. He has appeared on “The Today Show”, “Newshour”, and NPR. He writes a blog at www.rationaloptimist.com.