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The Better Angels of Our Nature
by Steven Pinker · 2011
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From Goodreads: Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year The author of The New York Times bestseller The Stuff of Thought offers a controversial history of violence. Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true: violence has been diminishing for millennia and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species's existence. For most of history, war, slavery, infanticide, child abuse, assassinations, pogroms, gruesome punishments, deadly quarrels, and genocide were ordinary features of life.…
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"Pinker's data-driven analysis of human progress aligns with Mark Zuckerberg's interest in long-term societal trends and the potential for technology to improve the world. This pick fits his focus on understanding humanity's trajectory."
"The Better Angels of Our Nature is Steven Pinker’s explanation as to why, despite the selection pressures for murderousness in our evolutionary past, violence has declined in so many cultures around the world. It’s a fantastic book, and I recommend that everyone read it. From my perspective, I could sum up his argument very simply: Societal pressures have worked. Of course it’s more complicated than that, and Pinker does an excellent job of leading the reader through his analysis and conclusions. First, he spends six chapters documenting the fact that violence has in fact declined. In the next two chapters, he does his best to figure out exactly what has caused the “better angels of our nature” to prevail over our more natural demons. His answers are complicated, and expand greatly on the interplay among the various societal pressures which I talk about myself. It’s not things like bigger jails and more secure locks that are making society safer. It’s things like the invention of printing and the resultant rise of literacy, the empowerment of women and the rise of universal moral and ethical principles."
"“The Better Angels of Our Nature,” by Steven Pinker, is the book I’m really reading now that I finished “A Visit From the Goon Squad.”"