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by mns06
2901 days ago
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I'm 2/3 of the way through Enlightenment Now by Stephen Pinker, having seen Bill Gates describe it as his new favourite book of all time: https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Enlightenment-Now. With the daily news cycle full of violence, hatred and despair, the book is an rationally optimistic (possibilist!) argument that the human condition has been improving since the days of the Enlightenment - and that the improvement is driven by reason, science and humanism. Definitely recommended. |
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Just started reading it after having finished another one of Mr. Gates' favorite -- Factfulness, by Hans Rosling -- which, btw, he's distributing at no cost to college students in the United States. [0]
Insofar, I could observe Enlightenment Now to be a book that ties the loose ends of all of Mr. Pinker's previous works -- The Better Angels of our Nature, The Blank Slate etc. Would definitely recommend checking them out before starting with this to get an idea of the intellectual depth of the man.
[0] http://time.com/money/5303143/bill-gates-free-book-graduates...