A defense of progress that will provoke deep thinking and thoughtful discourse among his many fans.”—Booklist “Pinker defends progressive ideals against contemporary critics, pundits, cantankerous philosophers, and populist politicians to demonstrate how far humanity has come since the Enlightenment…In an era of increasingly “dystopian rhetoric,” Pinker’s sober, lucid, and meticulously researched vision of human progress is heartening and important.”—Publishers Weekly “[An] impeccably written text full of interesting tidbits from neuroscience and other disciplines…The author examines the many ways in which Enlightenment ideals have given us lives that our forebears would envy even if gloominess and pessimism are the order of the day.” —Kirkus Review. He believes that dreams predict the future, if we know how to interpret them. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. And some of his conclusions are irrefutable. He takes an optimistic view of the current political and social upheavals plaguing our world and puts them in context with both recent and ancient history. More than ever, the ideals of reason, science, humanism, and progress need a wholehearted defense. Adaptations and Essays. Contenido detallado y bien redactado, entretenido de leer para los amantes del ensayo humanístico y datos contrastados y bien analizados, en una obra que pone luz en el camino de todo aquel individuo que sueñe con construir un mejor futuro. I’m glad we have brilliant thinkers like Steven Pinker to help us see the big picture. This is a great focus for a psychologist; I spent a large amount of my professional life explaining psychological concepts to my clients, having yet another book to recommend to people looking for a professional. Please try your request again later. . And because reason tells you that none of this is particular to you, you have the responsibility to provide to others what you expect for yourself. But I knew I was channeling a body of beliefs and values that had taken shape more than two centuries before me and that are now more relevant than ever: the ideals of the Enlightenment. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. I usually only read one or two book reviews at most. He has seen a unicorn’s horn, but not a unicorn. What they also have in common is eternal optimism. 53-67); developing agricultural methods that are making great strides toward eliminating famine (68-78); increasing per capita income and reducing income inequality (71-120); working on technology and global cooperation to address pressing environmental problems (121-55); decreasing war-related deaths (156-66); increasing safety (167-90); reducing deaths caused by terrorism (191-98); adopting democratic forms of government that promote higher economic growth (200); spreading equal rights (214-32); increasing literacy and the quality of education (247-61); dramatically improving the quality of life (247-61); leading happier lives (262-89); and addressing the existential threats of overpopulation, resource shortages, and the threat of nuclear war (290-321). —Alfred North Whitehead   In the course of several decades giving public lectures on language, mind, and human nature, I have been asked some mighty strange questions. Reason is nonnegotiable. We take its gifts for granted: newborns who will live more than eight decades, markets overflowing with food, clean water that appears with a flick of a finger and waste that disappears with another, pills that erase a painful infection, sons who are not sent off to war, daughters who can walk the streets in safety, critics of the powerful who are not jailed or shot, the world’s knowledge and culture available in a shirt pocket. Your best intentions are not enough. It’s my new favorite book of all time.”—Bill Gates, “A terrific book…[Pinker] recounts the progress across a broad array of metrics, from health to wars, the environment to happiness, equal rights to quality of life.”—Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times, "Steven Pinker’s mind bristles with pure, crystalline intelligence, deep knowledge and human sympathy. Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2018. Part I    Enlightenment   The common sense of the eighteenth century, its grasp of the obvious facts of human suffering, and of the obvious demands of human nature, acted on the world like a bath of moral cleansing. .orange-text-color {font-weight:bold; color: #FE971E;}Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more. The sea became a satanic realm, and forests were populated with beasts of prey, ogres, witches, demons, and very real thieves and cut throats. So Enlightenment Now is a refreshing view of how we as as species has managed huge leaps into a remarkable survival when confronted with mortalities odds, and if we can get over our current hump of climate stress and political wantonness, we are all OK. Read more. Far from being an insipid consensus, these ideals are treated by today’s intellectuals with indifference, skepticism, and sometimes contempt. .orange-text-color {color: #FE971E;} Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip. Perhaps a second volume on this topic might be warranted. You get values that we must live by and cultures that failed their citizens. Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2018. AVAILABLE AT: Amazon Barnes & Noble IndieBound Books-a-Million iBooks. I’ve been a fan of Pinker’s work since grad school and have seen nothing in this book to change that. Enlightenment Now: The Ca... After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. READ THIS BOOK! Neville Chamberlain misjudged the intentions of the Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler. There's a problem loading this menu right now. There are 17 chapters setting out evidence (illustrated in some 75 charts) that globally humans are living longer healthier lives (pp. An optimistic civilization is open and not afraid to innovate, and is based on traditions of criticism. This is one of my favorite books of all time, perhaps my most favorite. However, the Cry Bullies on the far left, especially in our elite campuses, have no frame of reference. And Pinker uses charts, data, history, and a firm dedication to his cause to empirically prove that we are living in better times. . You can foster the welfare of other sentient beings by enhancing life, health, knowledge, freedom, abundance, safety, beauty, and peace. Prices are hidden. His conclusion is provocative, as anything by Pinker is likely to be.” —Colorado Springs Gazette, “Elegantly [argues] that in various ways humanity has every reason to be optimistic over life in the twenty-first century…. An Amazon Best Book of March 2018: Given the 24-hour news cycle to which we have grown accustomed, it’s difficult to navigate life and think that everything is peachy. Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker. Buy Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Pinker, Steven (ISBN: 9780525427575) from Amazon's Book Store. Are clams and oysters conscious? Reflecting on liberal ideals in 1960, not long after they had withstood their greatest trial, the economist Friedrich Hayek observed, “If old truths are to retain their hold on men’s minds, they must be restated in the language and concepts of successive generations” (inadvertently proving his point with the expression men’s minds). Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Enlightenment Now at Amazon.com. You can make the most of your capacity for pleasure and satisfaction, which allowed your ancestors to thrive and thereby allowed you to exist. It a single individual attempting to explain what he believes. Forget the naysayers. And there are so many reasons to live! Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress is remarkable, heart-warming, and long overdue.--Christian Science Monitor "Pinker is a paragon of exactly the kind of intellectual honesty and courage we need to restore conversation and community, and the students are right to revere him." That's why people are hearing from everywhere to read this book. And because this triumph is so unsung, the underlying ideals of reason, science, and humanism are unappreciated as well. What is enlightenment? They see the USA as a horrible place and in need of reform. So it’s clear why we don’t always have the sense that things are getting better. Please try again. Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2018, Very fact/statistics research that is rational and sound with a very positive perspective, Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2019. Superbly written and full of stats and interesting facts, but massively flawed in its overall optimism (but we do need optimists.) .orange-text-color {font-weight:bold; color: #FE971E;}Ask Alexa to read your book with Audible integration or text-to-speech. The historian David Wootton reminds us of the understanding of an educated Englishman on the eve of the Revolution in 1600:   He believes witches can summon up storms that sink ships at sea. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, Conscious Capitalism, With a New Preface by the Authors: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business, The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. “The West is shy of its values—it doesn’t speak up for classical liberalism,” he says. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. Learn more about the program. Please try your request again later. This is one of my favorite books of all time, perhaps my most favorite. That’s ambition of the highest level. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress is remarkable, heart-warming, and long overdue." Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2019. Thinkers such as Kant, Baruch Spinoza, Thomas Hobbes, David Hume, and Adam Smith were inquisitive psychologists and all too aware of our irrational passions and foibles. They are better fed. As soon as you show up to discuss the question of what we should live for (or any other question), as long as you insist that your answers, whatever they are, are reasonable or justified or true and that therefore other people ought to believe them too, then you have committed yourself to reason, and to holding your beliefs accountable to objective standards. Enlightenment’s motto, he proclaimed, is “Dare to understand!” and its foundational demand is freedom of thought and speech. 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. If you choose just one of his books to read, this is the one. — Christian Science Monitor “Pinker is a paragon of exactly the kind of intellectual honesty and courage we need to restore conversation and community, and the students are right to revere him.” —The Seattle Times If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you grow your business. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book), The Unbound Soul: A Visionary Guide to Spiritual Transformation and Enlightenment, Understanding the Human Mind: The Pursuit of Consciousness, Understanding the Human Mind: Unstoppable Willpower. History shows that when we sympathize with others and apply our ingenuity to improving the human condition, we can make progress in doing so, and you can help to continue that progress. Buy Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Pinker, Steven (ISBN: 9780241004319) from Amazon's Book Store. Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2019. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress is remarkable, heart-warming, and long overdue." There was a problem loading your book clubs. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Humanism has been around for a long time and enjoys a rather problematic reputation to the public. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress is remarkable, heart-warming, and long overdue.--Christian Science Monitor "Pinker is a paragon of exactly the kind of intellectual honesty and courage we need to restore conversation and community, and the students are right to revere him." It’s not just that questions like hers regularly appear in my inbox. 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. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. I have read (and re-read) The Better Angels of our Nature, and find it an exercise in how to put across a logically and rationally arrived at view, in spite of how the world seems through the eyes of the media. There's a problem loading this menu right now. The era was a cornucopia of ideas, some of them contradictory, but four themes tie them together: reason, science, humanism, and progress. --Bill Gates. Most of this book is a feelgood delight, worth a million antidepressants, and totally compelling. . You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. Read Fact fulness too by Hans Rosling, Die Welt entwickelt sich besser als man denkt. The Little Book of Stoicism: Timeless Wisdom to Gain Resilience, Confidence, and Ca... To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. People are living longer. But few appealed to the law-giving, miracle-conjuring, son-begetting God of scripture. He attempts to paint a picture of the world that is unrealistic. has been added to your Cart. He believes in werewolves, although there happen not to be any in England—he knows they are to be found in Belgium. That leads to the second ideal, science, the refining of reason to understand the world. Provoked by challenges to conventional wisdom from science and exploration, mindful of the bloodshed of recent wars of religion, and abetted by the easy movement of ideas and people, the thinkers of the Enlightenment sought a new understanding of the human condition. 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