Silbiger is explicit throughout the book, and especially in the conclusion, about what his research does and does not claim. He is not arguing for genetic determinism or for any form of ethnic superiority. He is arguing that specific, identifiable cultural practices produce specific, identifiable economic outcomes, and that these practices are available to anyone who chooses to adopt them. The seven keys he identifies: a strong emphasis on education as the primary investment, tight community networks with explicit mutual support norms, verbal and intellectual confidence developed through debate, selective frugality combined with aggressive investment, celebration of individual distinctiveness, a drive to prove oneself, and the habit of marrying capability to commercial application. None of these is ethnically exclusive. All of them are choices that any individual or community can make. Silbiger's argument for his Nigerian and African audience, though he did not write it with that audience in mind, is particularly relevant. Many of the cultural forces he describes, the portable wealth of education, the economic power of community networks, the long-term orientation of selective investment, are values that are recognised and valued across many African cultures. The question is whether they are being applied with the same consistency and intensity. The book is ultimately an argument that cultural practices are economic choices. Communities and individuals who transmit the right practices across generations compound their effects. Those who do not, regardless of talent or circumstance, leave significant capability on the table.