Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, A Short History of Progress dissects the cyclical nature of humanity's development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we've unleashed but have yet to control.

It is Wright's contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.

Ronald Wright著名小說傢，曆史學傢和散文傢，他的作品被翻譯成多國語言。他的非小說最貧包括：Stolen Continents(該書是齣版當年頭號暢銷書，獲得Gordon Montador Award, 還是當年《獨立報》和《周日時報》的年度推薦圖書)，A Scientific Romance (獲得1997年David Higham Prize 最佳小說奬，被《郵報》、《周日時報》、《紐約時報》、《環球》評為當年的年度圖書)，他最新創作的小說叫做 Hendorson’s Spear. 他齣生在英國，畢業於劍橋大學，現在居住在加拿大。