Travelin wrote: "The blurb suggests he's found a simple metric to describe civilizations across 15,000 years. Sounds a bit British. Are they going to owe him money soon?"
HAHAHA BRILLIANT COMMENT!!!. The social development index is the metric he developed. And it is anything but simple, and yet there're plenty of guesstimates in it. I'm at pains at the moment with this book, too many figures in each paragraph for my brain to absorb. But yeah, a book which is entitled "Why the West rules" sounds pompous all right.
HAHAHA BRILLIANT COMMENT!!!. The social development index is the metric he developed. And it is anything but simple, and yet there're plenty of guesstimates in it. I'm at pains at the moment with this book, too many figures in each paragraph for my brain to absorb.
But yeah, a book which is entitled "Why the West rules" sounds pompous all right.