Thomas Malthus was a mild mannered economist who set the world afire in 1798 with this essay on the 'principle of population.' Prompted to put his thoughts down on paper in response to a work by William Godwin ("Avarice and Profusion") and other writers, such as Marquis de Condorcet and Adam Smith, the book was originally published anonymously... and for good reason. Charles Darwin would eventually seize upon the 'population principle,' where strife surrounds humanity's quest for scarce natural resources, as the actual mechanism by which life emerged in the first place, through natural selection. Malthusian reasoning lay at the back of many of the programs put forward in the 19th and 20th centuries, surfacing in eugenics programs, the birth control movement, population control, and yes, even among the Nazis. It is still alive and well in the 21st century, most prominently among those who insist that the earth is overpopulated, and link that issue to every social ill and even the weather! If only there were not so many people, there would not be climate change, formerly known as global warming. Or so goes the argument.But is the argument a good one? Even after two hundred years, it is sometimes good to go back to the beginning. Evaluating Malthus' original, first edition, in light of two centuries of application of his ideas, seems eminently wise, given that his ideas are still being implemented today.Included in this edition is William Godwin's essay "Avarice and Profusion" which instigated Malthus to write in the first place.