Rating: 
Summary: The book does not answer the question posed in the title
Review: Rather than discussing the "why?" most of the emphasis of this book is on the "how". Overall it is fairly entairtaining but lacks cohessivness. The authors seems to be very selective in the statistics he uses. It is very dishartening that a presumed scholarly work fails to follow the simplest rules of scientific investigation. If the answer to the question still intrigues you, I sugest that you buy a different book. Guns, germs and steel by Jared Diamond is far superior and rigourous in its approach.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful analysis of Earth history
Review: The beauty of this book is that it makes you realize that that the forces which shaped the history of the world are taking place right now--you can apply Landes' theories to today's headlines. Landes takes the ET-looking-at-Earth approach--and it is convincing. An alien intelligence would see that a country called Great Britain started industrializing in the l800s and the rest of the world is catching up to this very day (note China). The other major theme is that freedom of thought and democracy is the prime motivator of invention and industry, and that state-controlled societies remain static. I live in Japan which is a combination of the two--and hence explains to a large degree its rapid development after World War 2 as well as its current economic malaise. The most controversial factor of Landes' equation is the variable of culture and values. The undisputable historical fact, however, is that some countries have been more aware of "being behind the times" than others. Lack of a national consciousness (Landes' phrase: "they knew who they were") with a corresponding awareness of the rest of the world keeps societies in the past. Only knowledge and the desire for change sets people moving. That is why the Internet is such as boon for the free market--and why countries such as Japan are striving to catch up with the world's leader in this current hot technolgy--the U.S. Ever since the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese have been a trend-conscious people; it's in their culture. And you can bet your Palm Pilots that when China adopts more liberal reforms (perhaps even the disbanding of the Communist State itself), it will be a world titan by the middle of the 21st century.
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Summary: Meandering but Informative...
Review: This book by David Landes was highly recommended to me. This is a delightful book. The fact that makes the book doubly enjoyable is that Landes is not affected by the american affliction of 'Political Correctness'. The book is highly informative, but despite all the interesting stories and tantalising anecdotes, one can't help but feel towards the end that, ' did he really explain why some nations are poor and some are rich?' I would recommend this book for the sheer wealth of information it carries, but if you really want an insight into why some countries are ahead and richer and why some are not, don't read this book. Towards the end the book meanders a little and gives the impression that the author is struggling for an ending to complement this fine book. Landes is a great writer and enthralls the readers with his intelligent inferences and interesting and juicy details. I would recommend this book to everybody for the sheer reading pleasure it provides.
Rating:
Summary: Meandering but Informative
Review: This book by David Landes was highly recommended to me. This is a delightful book. The fact that makes the book doubly enjoyable is that Landes is not afflicted by the american obsession of 'Political Correctness'. The book is highly informative, but despite all the interesting stories and tantalising anecdotes, one can't help but feel towards the end that, ' did he really explain why some nations are poor and some are rich?' I would recommend this book for the sheer wealth of information it carries, but if you really want an insight into why some countries are ahead and richer and why some are not, dont read this book. Towards the end the book meanders a little bit and it seems that the author is struggling for an ending to complement this fine book. Landes is a great writer and enthralls the readers with his intelligent inference. I would recommend this book to everybody for the sheer reading pleasure it provides.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting thesis; odd writing style.
Review: I found this book to be a bit overhyped. The underlying contention that human habits (when made socially commonplace through institutions) have a significant impact on economic growth is interesting, but the style is quite odd for a Harvard professor. Many sentences are fragments. Like this. Perhaps he thinks that enlivens the prose but I think it is annoying. The book is also much longer than it need be. Further, the approach is exclusively historical, with attention being paid to current economic analysis only to discredit it. For the first 10 or 12 chapters I felt like I was reading a book on world history, with the reader being left to draw his or her own conclusions about why some nations came out winners and others losers. In the end though it's a solid tome on the shelf, with a fresh view on the matter.
Rating: 
Summary: Serpent eats its tail.
Review: If, as Landes says, tolerance was what made the West great, then his book shows we are reaching the end.Yes, the West may have possessed -- and seized -- some of the assets that led to its triumph. But there's an even more important question than why the West dominates today's global economy: Is that economy (which is wasteful in resources, natural and human) sustainable? If not, we may have more to learn from other cultures than Landes recognizes. Contrary to Landes, multiculturalism is not totalitarian "political correctness" (red-baiting pun on Parti Communiste); it's an urgent attempt to learn, for those with keen eyes and ears not just loud voices.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable and wide-ranging product of erudite fellow
Review: So why are some nations rich and others poor? Does Landes tell why by the end of the book? Sort of. I would say he's right on the money until about 1900. He starts by examining the geography argument: Huntington and others in the 19th century, who saw differences in prosperity from region to region, and tried to fashion a "science" of economic analysis based on climate. People in cold regions were energized and people in the tropics were enervated. The former thrived and the latter loafed. Then these theories shaded into ever more questionable connections between climate and race and ability and wealth, and were ultimately discredited. After all, if cold weather encourages prosperity, how are we to explain the economic disaster that is Russia? And why are Singapore, Hong Kong, and Hawaii so wealthy in their tropical locations? So if not geography, then what? By way of answering that question, Landes discusses most major movements toward riches and power that have ever taken place. Why does Islam jump up and take over a large percentage of the world, then slip into torpor and poverty? Why does the Industrial Revolution begin in England instead of China, a civilization thousands of years older? Why does Spain, winner of the global lottery in the 16th century, have nothing to show for it by 1900? To sum it up in just a few words: freedom, tolerance, curiosity, and common sense. The warriors of Islam could grab off an empire and the scholars of Islam could lead the world in astronomy, but when narrow-minded mullahs took over and banned all thought that was not in the Koran, the advance stopped. The Chinese perfected the most basic human activities: raising food and families. But ordinary Chinese were not allowed to own property, and commercial activity down through the centuries was, often as not, against the law. So while the Chinese people were undoubtedly clever enough to set up factories and make piles of money, they did not do so seriously until 1978 because their various governments forbade it. Spain replayed the Islam story, with variations. Instead of putting their riches and power into ever larger moneymaking ventures, they squandered it in wars. Instead of cultivating their brightest citizens, they placed the intellectual straightjacket of the Inquisition on them. They kicked out the Jews. They kicked out the Moors. They attacked the British. There is no better argument against climate and geography than the Spanish. They controlled an empire that included tropics and temperate zones, deserts and rain forests, minerals in fantastic abundance, swaths of agricultural land into which you could drop several Britains. And after three centuries what they had built was little more than a collection of churches. It seems to me that Landes is more adept at answering his central question in the pre-industrial era, which is curious since he is an Industrial Revolution scholar. Perhaps he knows so much about the IR that it overloads the judgement capacitors in his brain. Or maybe a sudden heat wave in Cambridge temporarily reduced his mental powers. Whatever it was, after the first third of the book he seems to drift, ignoring the very answers he's put his finger on: freedom, tolerance, curiosity, and common sense. This seems to me to be of vital importance, because when you add to these qualities an account of the natural resources of the various places in the world, you can explain quite well (if a little glibly) why some nations are so rich and some so poor. The Soviet Union, for instance, with it's abundance of natural resources and able people could have been quite prosperous, except that it was morally bankrupt from its inception. Science was exalted, free thought and speech was forbidden, spirituality squelched, and dissent not tolerated. In the various Islamic empires spirituality was exalted, almost nothing was tolerated, and scientific advances were searched for in the pages of the Koran. But more fascinating than these broad explanations are the little side alleys of thought that abound. Intellectuals have known for at least a dozen years that tolerance is a good thing, but Landes shows in a number of situations just how costly and economically atrophying intolerance is, in rich nations as well as in poor. The American South never industrialized substantially until after the Civil Rights movement. Paraguay, in the 19th century, attempted to make itself into an egalitarian state but failed. Why? Because, like Castro, it attempted to do so at gunpoint. The solons of Cambridge, among whom Landes resides, could learn much from the story of little Paraguay. Every so often Landes' writing becomes facile, as when he repeatedly dismisses one theory or another with the phrase "So much for..." or when he lapses into the Latin that academics still believe adds luster to their prose: "status quo ante" instead of "the way it was before". Yet all in all, the defects are minor, and do not take away much from this very impressive and enjoyable achievement: a world history that is not constructed on the usual framework of treaties and political leaders, and that is written in a lively and provocative style.
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Summary: an alternate title: Culture and Progress
Review: If you are interested in the question of how it was that western Europe and then the United States led the world in developing science and technology, and are now consequently leading the world in economic development, then this book is for you. For example, what were the social and cultural conditions that allowed the Industrial Revolution to happen first in Britain? What was different in China, or in France? Geography plays a role, but so do many other factors. By comparing and contrasting western Europe and the United States with other cultures, David Landes suggests some answers. I loved this book! My only complaint is that the author does not always write in complete sentences. Some missing verbs. Others are missing other parts of speech, such as nouns, conjunctions. However, other readers have found this style refreshing, so it must be a matter of taste.
Rating:
Summary: lot of anecdotes, less of argument
Review: Landes' book is more of history and less of economics.Throughout the book, the argument gets crowded out by innumerable trivia of history. Perhaps a concise edition of half the size will be more readable.
Rating:
Summary: Good to have on the shelf.
Review: I started this book with great relish, but found myself skimming faster and faster as the centuries progressed. It's chock-a-block with pertinent comments and interesting history, and the reader who follows Landes' innumerable footnotes will find no end of fascinating trivia, but what's lacking is a central thesis. We read what happened, but we don't gain any theoretical tools to learn why. Most disppointing for a book completed in 1997 is that the whole matter of globalization is summarily dismissed. The final chapter, begins with the premise that "...we have become a world of nation-states...." This is more true than not, but Landes is ignoring one of the most interesting trends of our day -- that the nation-states of the world are clearly losing their autonomous control over economic matters. I'm sure I'll refer to this book frequently for historical background, but as a read-through, it was far from satisfying.
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