Enlightenment Now

The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

By: Steven Pinker

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018
ONE 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 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.

Tremendous insights but highly biased

Pinker makes a cogent case for why these are the best of times, and makes logical arguments for why limited government, capitalism, and reason are how that came to be. His analysis of the appeal of Trump is truly brilliant and eye-opening. However, he is inconsistent in providing logical support for political practices he views as self-evidently correct--such as heavy spending social welfare statism--often gushing at how much better life is in European countries than the United States. Further, his lack of understanding of the foundations of intellectual libertarianism, and what libertarians really believe calls into question whether he has done his research in other areas. He ignores entirely, for example, that libertarians believe what they believe based on a consistent set of principles. Whether you agree with those principles or not, Pinker ignores them for instead his own intuitive sense of a misguided psychological motivation. It taints the book that his bias leads him to tee up false targets and then swing at them. He should have done more homework on what those he disagrees with actually think.

In one word : Uplifting!

Brilliant summary of the status of humanity augmented with an inspiring case for the enlightenment values that brought us in this place.. a better place.
Mr Steven Pinker dismantles the fallacies that led to the common belief that things are bad (and worse) and instead of falling into naive positivism, he reminds us about the forces that made the world a better place and call upon us to renew our commitment to them.
Outstanding plea for science and humanism.

It's a great book, but lengthy/wordy

It's a great book, but lengthy/wordy.

It has a positive outlook in life. It lets you know how much better we're doing as a society than in the past.

Must Read

Everyone should read this book. It really helps to put all of human life into perspective and will give you an optimistic outlook on our progress as a species.

Best book for any one who thinks

This is a fantastic book that enlightened my thinking on many subjects. So dense that I listened twice!