The Better Angels of Our Nature

My second book of the year is The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker. It's a timely book about how and why violence has steadily decreased throughout our history, and how we can continue this trend. Recent events might make it seem like violence and terrorism are more common than ever, so it's worth understanding that all violence -- even terrorism -- is actually decreasing over time. If we understand how we are achieving this, we can continue our path towards peace. A few people I trust have told me this is the best book they've ever read. It's a long book, so I plan on taking a month to read it rather than two weeks. I'll add a third book in two weeks that will be a shorter read to complement this. If you want to follow along with the books I'm reading and participate in conversations with the authors, you can like the page A Year of Books.

Stands out as one of the most important books I've read — not just this year, but ever.

Recommended by Bill Gates as well. Nothing to do with business. But shows that we live in the best of times on Earth. Ever.

Great reminder that for all that is terrible in modern societies, we’ve still made dramatic leaps over even the pretty recent past. Yet still there are these pockets of intense violence, especially in the US, that beggars investigation. And investigate Mr Pinker does. I’m only about 20% through this 800-page tome, but it’s surprisingly easy reading, if not always easy to stomach (he goes DEEP on all the ways humans used to torment each other in all its gory detail).

A tome of a book. Pinker tracks the history of violence and makes the counterintuitive and controversial argument that we are less violent today than we have ever been before.

The Better Angels of Our Nature taught me that you can be a long-term optimist even when things around you look pretty bad.

Delighted to learn that, in spite of the violence duly reported in this world, over the centuries we have actually become a kinder and gentler species.