The Company of Strangers: A Natural History of Economic Life: Amazon.co.uk: Paul Seabright: Books

Review

The Company of Strangers is a model of how different disciplines can enrich each other to explain human progress.
(George Peden Times Literary Supplement )

A welcome and important contribution. . . . The Company of Strangers exemplifies a new breed of economic analysis, seeking answers to fundamental questions wherever they are found and ignoring disciplinary boundaries. . . . [It] is highly readable and will be accessible to a wide audience.
(bert Gintis," Nature )

A very unusual new book about economics, and much else besides. . . . Elaborate co-operation outside the family, but within the same species, is confined to humans. The requirements for such co-operation, and hence for modern economic life, which is founded on specialization and an infinitely elaborated division of labor, are more demanding than you might suppose. . . . The fact that things could have turned out so differently makes the modern global economy, with all its awesome productivity, seem even more miraculous.
(The Economist )

A clear, thought-provoking and elegant book.
(Howard Davies Times Higher Education Supplement )

An important and timely book.
(Giles Whittell The Times (London) )

An entertaining, wide-ranging account about how the economy evolved in a way that allowed strangers, even potentially hostile strangers, to cooperate and even collaborate within market-based institutionsS. Seabright tells the story of how human beings, despite their genetic predisposition toward violent and even murderous behavior, have managed to produce a complex civilization through market-based institutions.
(Choice )

We now depend on the efforts of many strangers for our lives. In these days of terror and conflict, Seabright's stunning exploration of this human social experiment is timely. . . . This is a book every concerned citizen should read, along with anybody in business who ever has to tangle with government regulations or the law, and who wants to understand why those relationships are so complex.
(Diane Coyle Strategy and Business )

A brilliant book.
(Martin Wolf Financial Times )

In his absorbing book, Seabright . . . marvels at how easily we 'entrust our lives to the pilot of an aircraft, accept food from a stranger in a restaurant, enter a subway train packed full of our genetic rivals.' It's not often that an economist provides nuggets for cocktail party conversation.
(Peter Young Bloomberg News )

Few economists are so sweeping in their ideas as Seabright, and few so anxious to make us look freshly at the world. . . . In The Company of Strangers, Seabright has produced one of those books that lie low, speak quietly, but work a change on the reader.
(Robert Fulford National Post )

There seems to be no place where Seabright is a stranger. He obviously feels as much at home among classical economists as among evolutionary biologists, quotes modern literature and ancient history with equal aplomb, jumps from experimental psychology to political philosophy and draws liberally on his personal memories of places from Ukraine to India. . . . [His] book is obviously not meant as an exercise in planned economy, but as an excursion, without blinkers and without apprehension, through a tumultuous crowd of ideas.
(Karl Sigmund American Scientist )

So what does it take to become truly global? In a nutshell, it means learning how to live in The Company of Strangers. In [this] illuminating book . . . Paul Seabright, himself an economist, brings together insights from history, biology and sociology to explain the concept of modern civilization.
(Korea Herald )

Paul Seabright contends that the Neolithic revolution, which saw the beginning of farming, changed not only the environment but also human nature. Settling down to tend fields promoted societies based on trust. Today, he says, all our economic institutions rely on trust. . . . [I]t is a provocative read.
(Maggie McDonald New Scientist )

Review

A brilliant book. (Martin Wolf Financial Times )

The Company of Strangers is a model of how different disciplines can enrich each other to explain human progress. (George Peden Times Literary Supplement )

[A] clear, thought-provoking, and elegant book. (Howard Davies Times Higher Education )

Why is everyday life so strange? Because, explains Mr. Seabright, it is so much at odds with what would have seemed, as recently as 10,000 years ago, our evolutionary destiny. (Economist )

An important and timely book. . . . It starts in the mists of prehistory but ends emphatically in the here and now. (Giles Whittell Times )

A welcome and important contribution. . . . The Company of Strangers exemplifies a new breed of economic analysis, seeking answers to fundamental questions wherever they are found and ignoring disciplinary boundaries. . . . [It] is highly readable and will be accessible to a wide audience. (bert Gintis," Nature )

There seems to be no place where Seabright is a stranger. He obviously feels as much at home among classical economists as among evolutionary biologists, quotes modern literature and ancient history with equal aplomb, jumps from experimental psychology to political philosophy and draws liberally on his personal memories of places from Ukraine to India. . . . [His] book is obviously not meant as an exercise in planned economy, but as an excursion, without blinkers and without apprehension, through a tumultuous crowd of ideas. (Karl Sigmund American Scientist )

An entertaining, wide-ranging account about how the economy evolved in a way that allowed strangers, even potentially hostile strangers, to cooperate and even collaborate within market-based institutions. Seabright tells the story of how human beings, despite their genetic predisposition toward violent and even murderous behavior, have managed to produce a complex civilization through market-based institutions. (Choice )

We now depend on the efforts of many strangers for our lives. In these days of terror and conflict, Seabright's stunning exploration of this human social experiment is timely. . . . This is a book every concerned citizen should read, along with anybody in business who ever has to tangle with government regulations or the law, and who wants to understand why those relationships are so complex. (Diane Coyle Strategy and Business )

In his absorbing book, Seabright . . . marvels at how easily we 'entrust our lives to the pilot of an aircraft, accept food from a stranger in a restaurant, enter a subway train packed full of our genetic rivals.' It's not often that an economist provides nuggets for cocktail party conversation. (Peter Young Bloomberg News )

Few economists are so sweeping in their ideas as Seabright, and few so anxious to make us look freshly at the world. . . . In The Company of Strangers, Seabright has produced one of those books that lie low, speak quietly, but work a change on the reader. (Robert Fulford National Post )

Paul Seabright contends that the Neolithic revolution, which saw the beginning of farming, changed not only the environment but also human nature. Settling down to tend fields promoted societies based on trust. Today, he says, all our economic institutions rely on trust. . . . [I]t is a provocative read. (Maggie McDonald New Scientist )

Human civilisation is the result of a magnificent collaborative effort, the unwitting by-product of countless individuals working together. . . . Drawing on history, biology, literature, anthropology and economics, his argument is subtle and compelling. (Guardian )

So what does it take to become truly global? In a nutshell, it means learning how to live in The Company of Strangers. In [this] illuminating book . . . Paul Seabright, himself an economist, brings together insights from history, biology and sociology to explain the concept of modern civilization. (Korea Herald ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

Packed with Knowledge! 30 Mar 2005

By Rolf Dobelli TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Credit author Paul Seabright's achievement on several scores. First, he is an economist who thinks outside the supply-and-demand box, and whose thoughts actually are comprehensible to the average reader. Second, his ideas are original, blending evolution, economics and sociology. In his view, the daily trusting interaction of complete strangers is a marvel that is unprecedented in the animal kingdom. Moreover, this high degree of non-familial social cooperation has only arisen in the past 10,000 years or so, despite the six to seven-million-year existence of 'Homo sapiens'. Although the average businessperson probably has no direct application for Seabright's book, it's interesting, worthwhile reading anyway. In a world where the need for global cooperation is greater, and its existence more fragile, we recommend this book for its unique, valuable perspective.

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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

The Future of Reciprocity 26 May 2004

By Michael Holyoke

Very briefly, the book is extremely illuminating on the strangeness of economic communities, on what in our nature makes these possible, and therefore very suggestive on the implications for future communities and future roots of conflict. It is also very well written and purposely avoids economic jargon - a light touch on a deep subject.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

Is everything for sale? 28 Jun 2004

By Kay Sexton

This book ranges from the role of delegated decision-making to the auction of dancing girls at Sotheby's. In between it explains how we can exist in a world full of strangers without being mugged, robbed and cheated every time we enter into a transaction.

Economic theory can be dry and the examples used be economists often leave the rest of us cold, but Paul Seabright brings to life some of the arid territory of abstract reasoning and shows that once it is well watered with insight from other disciplines, it can be a fascinating area of study. The writing is lively and well sprinkled with vivid examples that make you grin, rather than grimace.

But this is more than just a treatise - the final section of the book shows how fragile this 'great experiment' could be. Seabright deals with the threats to our life among strangers in a way that could almost make you begin to appreciate the way your credit card company chases you for a payment every month!