The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

Mark Zuckerberg (CEO/Facebook)

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.

Bill Gates (CEO/MIcrosoft)

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

Michael Herrmann (Founder/Terminerinnerung)

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

David Heinemeier Hansson (Co-Founder/Basecamp)

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).