The Aristocracy of Talent

What Hacker News says

1. danielodievichJul 2022
   This situation is incredibly well covered by the book that I just finished called The Aristocracy of Talent - How Meritocracy Made the Modern World By Adrian Wooldridge. It is a riveting read covering the history of how power was passed through (father->son) for a long time, how it changed with meritocracy in last 200 years and how it is currently going back, with a twist. Great review https://www.city-journal.org/review-of-the-aristocracy-of-ta.... A worthy and very relevant read for current troubled times
   Show morethread
2. sherrOct 2026
   I just finished the book "The Aristocracy of Talent" by Adrian Wooldridge. It's a history of the idea of "meritocracy" and covers the criticism as well as the boosters, from Left and Right. I initially wanted to understand the reasons the British Grammar Schools came about, and why they disappeared (mostly) - suppressed for a supposedly better "comprehensive" educational system. The book is good and worth a read.

   https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/313113/the-aristocracy-of-ta...

   There seem to be a few debates about the idea with the author on YouTube as well. I think we need meritocracy but it needs to be rebuilt again. It needs to help anyone with talents and not rely on wealth as much as it has started to.

   Show morethread
3. atmosxJan 2026
   Adrian Wooldridge (the Economist) in "Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World" argues, rather successfully IMO, that what made Venice the maritime super-power was meritocracy. Indeed, he argues, that the fall of the Venitian empire came swiftly when the Doge was forced to place only Venitians (birthright) to top positions, instead of the most "capable". Hence the available talent pool shrunk.

   The book makes for a fine read IMO: https://www.amazon.com/Aristocracy-Talent-Meritocracy-Modern...

   ps. this book came out as a response to Michael Sandell's "The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good?" which was a best seller at the time.

   Show morethread
4. atmosxNov 2021
   I'd like to share the following:

   - "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

   I believe it is a pretty common book amongst the HN crowd, no need to expand over it.

   - "The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good?" by Michael Sandel

   Currently reading this book. I find this book amazing. The arguments are well thought and the language is easy. I think Sandel is one of the top Philosophers of our time. Sandel, it seems, has a level of empathy that most well educated people are lacking. The topic of meritocracy interests me particularly, so I bought another book which is a meritocratic proponent "The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World" by Adrian Wooldridge. The two held a really interesting debate at intelligence squared ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOpdahGGoxE ) not long time ago.

   - "The Burnout Society" by Byung-Chul Han

   This book is hard, as most books by Mr Han. To a large extend the book is like a thesis: dense, technical vocabulary, etc. Those not too deep in modern psychology and philosophy, like myself, will find following through challenging but IMO the idea of the "self-slave" is extremely prominent in the tech industry.

   Show morethread