Interesting reading and discussion of the industrial revolution and its causes. As a "classic" social historian, I have favored explanations about big social processes, institutions, and structures. Yet, increasingly, I have begun to wonder whether other factors–culture, environment, even genetic predispositions–matter in determining historical change. The latter of those seems difficult to test, but is it any more problematic than assuming the endlessly rational human actor that economists posit and on which they depend (but which is clearly not the case)?

I would like to read the book, if I had time.

Link: Review – A Farewell to Alms – Industrial Revolution – Human Population – New York Times.