A breathtakingly original scientific masterpiece that reveals the underlying forces that have shaped human history

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