Enlightenment Now: Steven Pinker - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0525559027 ISBN 13: 9780525559023

Synopsis

Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom. 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.

About this title

Review

A salutary reminder of the material progress modern science and commerce have delivered (The New York Times)

Words can hardly do justice to the superlative range and liveliness of Pinker's investigations (Independent)

He writes like an angel (Matt Ridley Economist)

Pinker is a paragon of exactly the kind of intellectual honesty and courage we need (David Brooks The New York Times)

If 2017 was a rough year for you, look no further than Steven Pinker's engaging new book, Enlightenment Now, to cheer you up. Conceived before Donald Trump even announced his candidacy, it could not have been better timed to clarify - and, for some, refute - the habits of mind that brought Trump and the GOP to power ... Pinker's gift is to challenge us not only to update the Enlightenment, but to think beyond it (Washington Post)

Negative news is one reason why people consistently underestimate the progress humanity is making. To discern the true state of the world, Pinker says, we should use numbers. In Enlightenment Now, he does just that. The result is magnificent, uplifting and makes you want to rush to your laptop and close your Twitter account ... Pinker is surely right. Things are not falling apart. (Economist)

A valuable book ... Enlightenment Now can hardly be bettered (Boston Globe)

Persuasive... Pinker's book focuses on the Enlightenment as a philosophical perspective, as a distinctive way of looking at the position of individuals within modern society. Enlightenment Now is a spirited defence of the enduring ideals of this tradition (Times Higher Education)

A careful and deeply researched piece of work ... Pinker is bravely prepared to be the bearer of good news (Guardian)

The most uplifting work of science I've ever read (Science)

From the Back Cover

The follow-up to Pinker's pathbreaking The Better Angels of Our Nature argues that despite the rampant pessimism about the state of the world today, the facts prove that we are on a significant path upward and can continue that way, but only if we understand the ideals (and embrace the tools) that have created that progress. A necessary counter to the current gospel of doom.

Are things really going to hell in a handbasket? In this elegant and urgent assessment of the human condition in the third millennium,cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker proves that--despite the robust market for prophecies of woe--we're living longer, healthier, safer, richer, freer, happier, and more meaningful lives worldwide. The problems we face are formidable, but we have the tools to solve them. Our best days are, indeed, still ahead of us.

Progress is not inevitable, or the result of some mysterious force, he argues; it is the fruit of a system of beliefs and values that many of us embrace without even realizing it. These are the ideals of the Enlightenment: the conviction that we can use reason and science to enhance human flourishing. Far from being a naïve dream, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. Pinker shows in more than sixty jaw-dropping graphs that humanity is far better off than it was decades and centuries ago. But because of our cognitive and moral biases, we overlook this progress and prefer to sermonize about decline and despair

This myopia is dangerous, Pinker argues. It makes us sink into a paralyzing cynicism, demonize enemies instead of solve problems, and embrace demagogues and political and religious radicalism. But science and reason have given us a deep understanding of life and the cosmos, the conquest of pestilence and famine, and the precious gift of liberal democracy. The tools for to help us continue to survive and thrive are in our hands.

Edition details

• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0525559027
• ISBN 13: 9780525559023
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 528