In The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality, Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton provides a sweeping historical analysis of humanity’s remarkable progress in overcoming poverty and deprivation. Prof. Deaton frames this journey as a massive, ongoing escape from the historical traps of high infant mortality, frequent famines, and pervasive destitution. Driven primarily by the wealth generated during the Industrial Revolution and subsequent breakthroughs in public health, global life expectancy has soared and extreme poverty has plummeted over the past two centuries. This trajectory represents an unprecedented triumph of human ingenuity, demonstrating how economic growth and scientific innovation can fundamentally transform global living standards.