INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018ONE OF THE ECONOMIST’S BOOKS OF THE YEAR“My new favorite book of all time.” –Bill Gates If you think the world is coming to an end, think again: people are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier lives, and while our problems are formidable, the solutions lie in the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and science. By the … lie in the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and science. By the author of the new book, Rationality.
Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data: In seventy-five jaw-dropping graphs, Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West, but worldwide. This progress is not the result of some cosmic force. It is a gift of the Enlightenment: the conviction that reason and science can enhance human flourishing.
Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. But more than ever, it needs a vigorous defense. The Enlightenment project swims against currents of human nature–tribalism, authoritarianism, demonization, magical thinking–which demagogues are all too willing to exploit. Many commentators, committed to political, religious, or romantic ideologies, fight a rearguard action against it. The result is a corrosive fatalism and a willingness to wreck the precious institutions of liberal democracy and global cooperation.
With intellectual depth and literary flair, Enlightenment Now makes the case for reason, science, and humanism: the ideals we need to confront our problems and continue our progress.
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Steven Pinker’s mind bristles with pure, crystalline intelligence, deep knowledge and human sympathy.
A great read for getting a bit of perspective on (and feeling better about) our times.
A calm and measured look at human progress. Highly recommended.
Heavy stuff but great read. Offers a reality check for everyone who thinks things are bad today. It convincingly shows with a lot of evidence that the opposite is true. A great call for more grounded and rational thinking. Something we urgently need.
The world is getting better, even if it doesn’t always feel that way. I’m glad we have brilliant thinkers like Steven Pinker to help us see the big picture. Enlightenment Now is not only the best book Pinker’s ever written. It’s my new favorite book of all time.
This is the most eye-opening book in the world today. Everyone should read it. Things may not be perfect, but baby, they are way better than they ever have been before. Dr. Pinker will lay it all out for you.
Why are you still reading this review and not reading this book?
Go. Now! READ!
With the world in the throes of a pandemic which has filled morgues and kneecapped economies around the globe, skeptics might seem to have a strong case when they question Steven Pinker’s thesis (published pre-pandemic in 2018) that things are getting better for humans and have been for some time. But Pinker actually discusses the possibility of “black swan” events, those “with low odds but calamitous harm”, stating clearly that such things are always possible but that they need not be fatal to the steady progress which, he takes pains to document, has marked the last few hundred years of human life.
The idea that human life has gotten steadily better is the best-known part of Pinker’s thesis. The longest section of his book is devoted to the presentation of extensive data showing that most metrics of human well-being have improved over the past centuries: life expectancy, poverty, violence, etc. Some of these are counter to the current conventional wisdom: Pinker claims that measures of inequality, racism and environmental degradation are improving, for example. If you don’t believe him, he has the data. The book contains dozens of graphs and hundreds of footnotes to back him up.
But Pinker isn’t just playing Pollyanna, telling us to cheer up and stop whining; he has an axe to grind. His thesis is that all this progress is the result of the Enlightenment, the revolution in thinking that took place in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, prioritizing reason and science over religious belief. Pinker is a big fan of the Enlightenment, crediting it with all that progress he has documented, and he is concerned to defend it against its intellectual enemies.
Here’s where it gets contentious, because those enemies lie to both the right and the left. On the left, admirers of Karl Marx brutally enforced political orthodoxy over competence and genuine knowledge and killed millions through repression and famine. Yet Marxist thought somehow remains in fashion in some intellectual circles. Meanwhile, on the right we have seen a resurgence of tribalism in the form of authoritarian populism, rejecting globalization, demonizing foreigners (shading to outright bigotry at times) and embracing political cult figures. Pinker defends Enlightenment values against both sides.
So while you may be pleased to learn that things aren’t as bad as you thought, if you are out there on the political left you will be irked to hear Pinker say that “[capitalism’s] economic benefits are so obvious that they don’t need to be shown with numbers.” And if you are a conservative with religious faith, you will be dismayed at Pinker’s extended attack on nationalism, identity politics and religious belief.
Wherever you come down, if you’re concerned about the direction humanity is heading in, this book is worth reading and taking seriously. If you disagree with Pinker, the book should make you sharpen your arguments with reason and evidence. If, like me, you mostly agree with him, it will revive your spirits and give you intellectual ammunition.
Superb review of trends, almost all positive.
Struggling to understand why people and certain groups do what they do? why they react how they react? Increased my understanding of our society from local to national to international.
Didn’t give me anything I didn’t already know.
I am only partially trough this book and I am already telling friends about ut. A great important Book
Feeling blah about humanity? If so, give this a read. It may change your mind. A book with evidence-based theories…gave me a lot to think about…in a good way.
It was a great book but very dense. Get a notebook and a highlighter!
Pinker’s book is well researched and thorough. He touches on a number of key aspects of society and how we are living in the best of times, despite what you might see in the news.
I need to reminded that everything is not going to hell in a handbasket. Pinker does a good job of marshalling evidence that many things in the world are actually improving. The weakest section is on climate change, which could make almost everything else irrelevant. There are positive things going on and that could be going on, but Pinker does not face it as head-on as it deserves.
Another superb output from one of our great minds. Very much a read for anyone interested in the facts of how the world is progressing.
For an author who deplores dogmatism, Pinker is incredibly dogmatic. It soon becomes obvious that Pinker knows little about philosophy and practically nothing about metaphysics. This makes for an amusing read but the author does an excellent job of marshaling 21st century data in favor of late 17th century beliefs and proceeds to puncture many of today’s politically correct positions.
The emphasis on the positive strides modern society has made were wonderful to see the scientist who discovered blood typing and those who developed vaccines saving millions the improvement in lives of those living in extreme poverty were a lovely example of a glass. Half full rather than half empty well written and researched
Professor Pinker presents facts & figures about many current rational fears explaining how problems like global warming, climate change, terrorism, police shootings, poverty, population growth, capital punishment, crime, etc. are being addressed and debunks irrational fears with data that prove our fears are based on what & how the news media presents them and what we want to believe rather than current reality.
Provides essential information for understanding present times and possible futures!