Review of Robert Whaples Review of Paul Sabin's The Bet

Robert Whaples reviewed Paul Sabin's The Bet for The Independent Review (Summer 2014).  He describes the bet that Paul Ehrlich and Julian Simon made in detail, and chronicles Ehrlich's losses.  Whaples also summarizes Ehrlich's personal history, recounted in Sabin's book, but not so with Simon's.  He criticizes Sabin's text for paying less attention to Simon, and presenting a harsh picture of economists.  Whaples says, "Don't ever believe that economists crassly boil hman well-being down to material standards of living.  Simon didn't.  I've never known one who does.  The economists I know recognize that humans are not butterflies.  We are far more capable of solving problems- and we have souls" (139).  Whaples interprets Sabin's book as presenting Ehrlich as the hero.  This surprised me.  Though the balance may not have been completely even in attention between Ehrlich and Simon, I felt that Sabin criticized both Ehrlich and Simon (even after noting many of the strengths of each).  The message that I took from the book was that these two personalities helped set the stage for divisiveness over environmental issues that we still deal with today.  But, I suppose it's fitting that the review from the economist retails this polarization.