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A review by teokajlibroj
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker
4.0
I'm very impressed with how positive and factual this book is. Usually books are either one or the other, using facts to document a crisis or offering bland optimistic generalities. The world really is improving and we should celebrate this.
However, the chapters on inequality and the environment were flawed. Pinker should have acknowledged that most things are getting better, but not everything. Instead, by defending everything, he cast doubt over the whole book. He seemed willing to cherry-pick statistics to make the environmental situation look better, leaving himself open to the criticism of blind optimism he otherwise avoided.
I did notice that although Pinker strongly promotes the ideas of rationality and debate, he seems unwilling to take criticism. While his argument is made in precise detail, he generalises his critics as hysterical, irrational and foolish, without presenting their argument for us to judge.
A final note is that like other Pinker books, he presents his argument in exhaustive detail and I felt exhausted by the end of it and started skimming. His point was hammered home long before the end of the book. I skipped the bland final argument for enlightenment values because it had already been said.
Overall, an excellent book with only a blemish or two to stop it from being 5 stars.
However, the chapters on inequality and the environment were flawed. Pinker should have acknowledged that most things are getting better, but not everything. Instead, by defending everything, he cast doubt over the whole book. He seemed willing to cherry-pick statistics to make the environmental situation look better, leaving himself open to the criticism of blind optimism he otherwise avoided.
I did notice that although Pinker strongly promotes the ideas of rationality and debate, he seems unwilling to take criticism. While his argument is made in precise detail, he generalises his critics as hysterical, irrational and foolish, without presenting their argument for us to judge.
A final note is that like other Pinker books, he presents his argument in exhaustive detail and I felt exhausted by the end of it and started skimming. His point was hammered home long before the end of the book. I skipped the bland final argument for enlightenment values because it had already been said.
Overall, an excellent book with only a blemish or two to stop it from being 5 stars.