Enlightenment Now
The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
Pinker marshals data across dozens of measures to argue that life has been getting better, and why that matters.
Steven Pinker takes the ideals of the Enlightenment, reason, science, and humanism, and asks whether they have delivered. Marshalling seventy-five charts on everything from life expectancy to literacy to peace, he argues that human progress is real, measurable, and under-appreciated, and that the values that produced it are worth defending. Sweeping and data-driven, it is a bracing antidote to pessimism. Bill Gates called it his new favorite book of all time, praising its clear-eyed optimism grounded in evidence.
Recommended by 1 Person
Bill Gates
Book Review · January 2018
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