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

One of the world's greatest thinkers tells the heroic story of human progress - and why we neglect it at our peril.

Is modernity really failing? Or have we failed to appreciate progress and the ideals that make it possible?

If you follow the headlines, the world in the 21st century appears to be sinking into chaos, hatred and irrationality. Yet, as Steven Pinker shows, if you follow the trendlines, you discover that our lives have become longer, healthier, safer and more prosperous - not just in the West, but worldwide. Such progress is no accident: it's the gift of a coherent value system that many of us embrace without even realizing it. These are the values of the Enlightenment: of reason, science, humanism and progress. The challenges we face today are formidable. But the way to deal with them is not to sink into despair or try to lurch back to a mythical idyllic past; it's to treat them as problems we can solve, as we have solved other problems in the past. This is the case for an Enlightenment newly recharged for the 21st century.

Steven Pinker

Reviews

“ This is the biggest story of our time. It's about the many ways in which the world is improving, and why we don't believe it ”

Fraser Nelson, Spectator

“ Exhilarating, magnificent, uplifting ”

Economist

“ Pinker is right. Not just a bit right, but completely, utterly, incontrovertibly right . . . for most people, life is better, even if they don't realise it ”

Dominic Sandbrook, Daily Mail

“ A goldmine of startling graphs and killer facts about the way we live now. Everyone should read this book and, just for once, be enthralled by what humankind has achieved ”

Iain Macwhirter, Herald

“ Awesome. The confidence with which Pinker tears through the issues that cause such deep anxiety today is compelling ”

William Davies, Guardian

Paperback

9780141979090

January 8, 2019

Penguin Press

576 pages

RRP $24.99
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Trade Paperback

9780241337011

February 13, 2018

Allen Lane

576 pages

RRP $35.00
Online retailers
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Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Steven Pinker

EBook

9780141979106

February 27, 2018

Penguin eBooks
Online retailers