The Complacent Class

This came across as a boomer complaining with data about why things aren't as cool as they were when he was a kid. Towards the end of the book, he gets to the main point “Once people are successful and comfortable, they are less driven to achieve”

I have seen this replay throughout history and the idea that you need to push yourself to stay hungry isn't a particularly new insight. Unless you want a ton of factual analysis about why it's a good idea as a nation to stay hungry, you don't need to read this book.

I'm new to Tyler Cowen and his writing, so this whole book was a 🤯 read for me, but other reviews say it's similar to his previous books. I have loads of highlights throughout the book, but the parts about the US being more segregated than ever really surprised me, as well as his culprit: our current matching culture.

This is one I'll revisit and chew on for awhile. Despite the downer content, I loved this book.

Compelling, provocative arguments about our decline into complacency and disengagement as a society. We seek and protect security, avoid change and disruption....then find that we need resets and shake-ups to grow. Cyclic nature of history is more true to reality than a constant march of upward progress. The first half of the book was pretty dry with statistics and data, but the second half presented the arguments quite simply and logically. Will be reading his other books soon.