Abundance

De: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

Narrado por: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025 • NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2025 • KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOKS OF 2025 • NPR BOOKS WE LOVE 2025

“A must-read for progressives who want a blueprint for reforming government so it can deliver for working people.” —Barack Obama • “A terrific book...Powerful and persuasive.” —Fareed Zakaria • “Spectacular…Offers a comprehensive indictment of the current problems and a clear path forward…Klein and Thompson usher in a mood shift. They inspire hope and enlarge the imagination.” —David Brooks, The New York Times

From bestselling authors and journalistic titans Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Abundance is a once-in-a-generation, paradigm-shifting call to renew a politics of plenty, face up to the failures of liberal governance, and abandon the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life.

To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all. The crisis that’s clicking into focus now has been building for decades—because we haven’t been building enough.

Abundance explains that our problems today are not the results of yesteryear’s villains. Rather, one generation’s solutions have become the next gener­ation’s problems. Rules and regulations designed to solve the problems of the 1970s often prevent urban-density and green-energy projects that would help solve the problems of the 2020s. Laws meant to ensure that government considers the consequences of its actions have made it too difficult for government to act consequentially. In the last few decades, our capacity to see problems has sharpened while our ability to solve them has diminished.

Progress requires facing up to the institutions in life that are not working as they need to. It means, for liberals, recognizing when the government is failing. It means, for conservatives, recognizing when the government is needed. In a book exploring how we can move from a liberalism that not only protects and pre­serves but also builds, Klein and Thompson trace the political, economic, and cultural barriers to progress and propose a path toward a politics of abundance. At a time when movements of scarcity are gaining power in country after country, this is an answer that meets the challenges of the moment while grappling honestly with the fury so many rightfully feel.

A must read for those who want America to Build

If you're disenchanted by the extremes on the right and left, this book will give you some hope about the future of the US. It is centrist, well researched, interesting, and thoughtful. The conclusions plot a path to an optimistic future.

Recitation of Problems With No Real Solutions

This book begins with thoughtful analysis of what is wrong with our government (meaning federal, state, and local) in the form of stifling regulations and requirements, punctuated with interesting stories of how the bureaucratic process strangles progress.

There are some riveting stories about the heroic successes which have made America the World Leader in innovation, from invention to wide-spread delivery of life-changing successes like the light bulb (Thomas Edison) and the automobile (Henry Ford).

They even use the story of penicillin, an English triumph, which was discovered by Alexander Fleming, but then effectively commercialized by the US using the discoveries of Howard Florey and Ernest Chain. In this latter situation, penicillin quickly progressed from a small success in the lab to the world-wide phenomenon that saved millions of lives in World War II and later. In this situation, the US government provided limited financial support. This success was accomplished without the regulatory constraints that we experience everywhere today.

The disappointment in the book is in the conclusion, namely that all we need is for the government to "reimagine" itself. The authors seem to believe that their Party can establish a Think Tank and suddenly a leader will emerge who will carry us all into the Promised Land.

The story recognizes the importance of Hero Leaders in making things happen, and today we find many Hero Leaders in our midst, like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and others.

Surely, the authors have a better solution than suggesting that "government can reimagine itself". Better to challenge their Party to back our Heroes and eliminate the regulations and bureaucracy.

Simultaneously enraging and inspiring

Appreciate the deep dive in to why things aren't working and what we can *hopefully* do to improve our chances for a prosperous and healthy future.

Ideas that were well thought out and original.

I like living on the land. I am 😟 concerned regarding how do we balance economy of scale in food production, like cell grown meat, with individual food sovereignty and the right to individual liberty and ability to grow your food on your own land.

Brilliant analysis

Brilliant analysis of failures of both political parties over the last 60 years. With interesting ideas on how to go forward.