The Wealth of Humans

Work, Power, and Status in the Twenty-first Century

By: Ryan Avent

Narrated by: Scott Merriman

Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

An investigation of how the digital revolution is fundamentally changing our concept of work, and what it means for our future economy.

None of us has ever lived through an industrial revolution. Until now.

Digital technology is transforming every corner of the economy, fundamentally altering the way things are done, who does them, and what they earn for their efforts. In The Wealth of Humans, Economist editor Ryan Avent brings up-to-the-minute research and reporting to bear on the major economic question of our time: can the modern world manage technological changes every bit as disruptive as those that shook the socioeconomic landscape of the 19th century?

Travelling around the world, Avent investigates the meaning of work today: how technology is rendering time-tested business models outmoded and catapulting workers into a world indistinguishable from that of a generation ago. Our conceptions of the relationships between capital and labor and between rich and poor have been overturned.

Past revolutions required rewriting the social contract, as will this one. Avent looks to the history of the Industrial Revolution and the work of numerous experts for lessons in reordering society. The future needn't be bleak, but as The Wealth of Humans explains, we can't expect to restructure the world without rethinking what an economy should be.

©2016 Ryan Avent. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, Inc. all rights reserved.

fantastic book... compelling narrative

the author presents a very compelling case for the most important causes of economic stagnation for the middle class and what the roots of the problem are which point to where Solutions might be found all those some reviews have criticized the book for not offering sufficiently Clear Solutions I think the book does an enormous service by clearly arguing for what most important factors are that are contributing to the economic challenges faced by ordinary people around the world.
I have personally recommended this to all kinds of people I know and feel that this book should almost be a required reading for high school or college students

a good read overall

A bit redundant at times but presents a pretty good case. Not too overly technical. Avent does a good job of presenting both the optimistic and pessimistic view of most subjects that he addresses and does not just give his own view.

Some interesting ideas

I don't agree with everything in the book, but it presents some new ideas that are very interesting. Machines, automation, wealth, work, the case for universal basic income, etc.

More about defining the problems than the solutions

This book probably merits another listen but overall I found it was more geared for laying out the problems and why rather than the solutions. The only solutions I remember the book advocating for were basically to introduce a universal income and being more generous.

Amazing insight into the future

Great book and equally great narration! I learnt many nuances of economics along with a peep into the future

A very smart book

What a delightfully smart book. I found myself continually re-reading pages so I could properly ingest the concepts and observations.

The very essence of society’s contract with labor is being redefined as the waning of growth, globalization and artificial intelligence changes who wins and loses in our economic future. What becomes obvious is that the world has a daunting task ahead of it. Ahead lies granular changes every bit as ground shaking as the renaissance and the industrial revolution.

This is a dense read, filled with so many great explanations of the always baffling behavior of markets and their effect on real people.

So many books like this are simply a rehash of standard economic thinking. Not this one. I was impressed at how Avent wove together so many different disciplines into insightful observations about our future. Politics, economics, psychology, history and business behavior were brought together in a common-sense way.

These are heady times and Avent does a great job gleaning insightful landmarks disguised as political rhetoric and everyday economics. He does a great job helping us understand the political meanness and dissension we see today. Then, he winds the clock forward to show us the most likely ways world economic forces might play out.

Great title, shallow knowledge

I really kept pushing on with this book because it was a new release and I was curious for new knowledge which there was not much.

I shouldn't be buying these things.

What would have made The Wealth of Humans better?

In the beginning, the goal for personal computing technology was that it should become "just another household appliance, like a toaster." Well, have we reached that blessed state? To me, in this case, buying an audio book on-line, should be like buying a print book at a book store -- Barnes and Noble, Borders (chapter 11), or Rainbow Books (now defunct) -- you find the book, you open the book, you look at the book, you read a little of the book ... you notice that you *can* read it, that the pages are all there, and (obviously) after you pay the cashier, you can take it home and actually read it. You take it home, take it out of its package and start reading. When it's time for dinner, you put the book down, then go and eat. After dinner, you find the book, pick it up and start reading again until you are finished or want to stop. This is how books used to work. Now with this book, I pay an extra $5 or so for it to read to me. Fine, I'm lazy. But where is that function? It worked for a while, but now where is that function? Did my $5 expire? With a paper book, if I found the book, I could read the book. How do I know I have found *this* book? It is not reading to me? Maybe, if I poke around some more I will find it again, but why does it have to be so hard, so opaque. This is like being a rat in a maze. If you can exercise you imagination and your empathy -- your ability to put yourself into another person's experience -- you might understand how frustrating this is.

What was most disappointing about Ryan Avent’s story?

Nothing so far. I have not gotten enough into his argument for form much of an opinion.

How could the performance have been better?

I thought this was going to be just another mp3 book, the content of such "books"I have no problem getting access to.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It is fine ... so far.

Any additional comments?

mp3.