Matt Ridley is one of the best-selling—and best-regarded—science writers on the planet. He wrote recently that in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, "We are about to find out how robust civilisation is" and "the hardships ahead will be like nothing we have ever known." Given that Ridley's best-known book is called The Rational Optimist, this is bracing stuff. Ridley's next book, How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom, will be published in May. Nick Gillespie spoke with him from his home in northern England. They discussed why the coronavirus caught him by surprise, when he thinks the...