Book review: "Civilisation: the 6 killer apps of western power"

So, the pilot has just announced a 15 minute delay before takeoff (let's not talk about the previous two hour delay this adds on to!); just enough time to get down a thought or two on the book I just finished reading, "Civilisation - the six killer apps of western power", by Niall Fergusson. 

To be up front, unlike most of my posts, this review does not have any particular business context.

I am a fan of the work of Niall Ferguson (see here and here for a couple of absolutely cracking books), so was definitely looking forward to this one, irritatingly populist subtitle notwithstanding.

Ferguson poses the question why "The West" has been more "successful" for the last 400 years than eastern civilisations. The answer to this question is not as banal as one might expect (luck and a few great renaissance innovations that positioned the west for Empire, followed up by ruthless exploitation, would have been my ill-informed answer).

The author suggests that the reasons are manifold (undisputed, I would say!) and that they stem from the complex interaction of the following "killer apps":

• Competition; European mercantile capitalism and competition in context of many small countries
• Property rights and the rule of law (particularly in US)
• Medicine and impact of health improvements across world from colonialism
• The consumer society and the demand driven innovation during the Industrial Revolution
• The work ethic - Western religions and impact on conscience et al.

This collection does seem to provide a robust collection of valid ideas, and the author has dozens of great examples juxtaposing the West with the East in each of the categories. However, I remained slidely disappointed with the overall book. 

I may be getting a bit simple with progressing middle-age, but Ferguson's argument would have benefitted greatly from a good cause and effect diagram, showing the interactions of these apps - without it, I have remained unable to properly understand whether his answer is complete, or indeed whether it stacks up.

This niggle notwithstanding, Ferguson provides a huge amount of food for thought, with literally hundreds of interesting references backing up his claims. And the topic is, obviously, very relevant at a point in which the tide seems to have turned irrevecorably against the West.

For those who do not want to read all 350 pages, Ferguson held a lecture at the Cambridge Union, in which he outlines the key points in an hour or so (posted on YouTube here). Enjoy!