'Masterful. Galor answers the ultimate mystery' LEWIS DARTNELL 'Completely brilliant and utterly original' JON SNOW 'Astounding in scope and insight' NOURIEL ROUBINI The stunning advances that have transformed human experience in recent centuries are no accident of history - they are the result of universal and timeless forces, operating since the dawn of our species. Drawing on a lifetime's scientific investigation, Oded Galor's ground-breaking new vision identifies these keys to human progress, overturning a host of long-held assumptions and revealing the deeper causes that have shaped the journey of humanity: Education rather than industrialisation Family size and gender equality as much as inventions and technology Geography and diversity rather than wars, disease and famine * 'Unparalleled in its scope and ambition . . . All readers will learn something' Washington Post 'A magisterial, suspense-filled thriller full of surprises and profound insights' Glenn C. Loury 'An inspiring, readable, jargon-free and almost impossibly erudite masterwork' New Statesman 'If you need an evidence-based antidote to doomscrolling, here it is' Guardian