Niall Ferguson's Time Machine

Niall Ferguson's Time Machine

Without Books We Will Be Barbarians

It is not the road to serfdom that awaits—but the steep downward slope to the status of a peasant in ancient Egypt.

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Niall Ferguson
Oct 17, 2025
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He wanted above all . . . to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning.” —Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451It’s hard not to be impressed by Ray Bradbury’s prescience.

In his best-know…

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