Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Sashin's notes

This book shot straight up to the position of my favourite book of all time (shared with Sam Harris' Waking Up). I enjoyed reading it so much I was inspired to write up this piece.

Throughout history people have worked selflessly towards the betterment of our world. Good ideas have spread, time and again vanquishing bad ones. Violence has been declining and since the Enlightenment, superstition has been losing ground to reason. These changes have been reflected in measurable progress in virtually every value we tend to care about.

Supported by seventy-five graphs, Enlightenment Now is an attempt by the wonderful Steven Pinker to dispel the fatalism and unreason that has plagued our discourse and make the simple case that progress is both attainable and desirable.