Enlightenment Now: The
Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, by Steven
Pinker* (Viking 2018, 576 pages, $35)
The Audacity of Hope would have been an
excellent title for this book if it had not been taken already (by Barak Obama).
Therefore, the following is a book review that is the first of its kind, one
that has never been written before, a one-word book review that says it all:
Wow!
Author
Steven Pinker, a Canadian-born Harvard psychology professor, has nerve, spunk,
grit, temerity and enough foolhardiness, impudence, impertinence and brashness
to believe that the world is better off today than ever before - and he proves
it by disproving our gut feelings (and short-term memories) with tables of data
covering past centuries to support that progress (and, therefore, hope for the
future). He uses
social science data from various sources to argue for a general improvement of
the human condition over recent history and his knowledge of nearly every field of
knowledge astounds the reader who cannot believe Enlightenment was authored by just one person.
“My
new favorite book of all time,” so says Bill Gates (so eloquently) and this
reviewer.
Unique Writing Style:
Fast-Paced
If
Pinker wrote a dictionary, I would read it! Even a telephone book! Hope you are not on a
diet because Pinker gives you plenty of food for thought.
Anatomy of Enlightenment (The Book)
The
book is divided into three parts: enlightenment (an introductory 3 chapters
that can stand alone); progress (17 chapters of data, charts and facts on 17 topics
such as health, wealth, peace, democracy, terrorism, safety, life, quality of life,
sustenance, inequality, the environment, equal rights, knowledge); and reason,
science and humanism (tying it all together in 3 chapters). Periodically Pinker
refers to other chapters and, thank goodness, he has included footnotes as well
as Notes (nearly 40 pages), References (more than 35 pages), and an index.
Basically,
Pinker espouses hope for the future based on the past. He wants us to use data
rather than marketing, media and emotion to feel more hopeful about the future
of the world at large. For example, more people die of bee stings than in plane
crashes but we are not aware of this because it is not ‘sexy’ or
attention-getting (my example but reminiscent of those in the book). Also, humans
live longer (years longer!) than in
past centuries and no longer die as much of infectious diseases like cholera
and TB. We can better control our health (but often don’t).
Although
the title is rather off-putting, I can’t think of a better one. And, in
conclusion, this would make an excellent text book for a liberal arts college,
a world history or statistics course, or a city’s Book of the Year. Even parts
of it (a chapter from the beginning and one from the middle at a minimum) is
enough for an evening’s topic of conversation. As a matter of fact, I hope Enlightenment Now will be abridged to
make its premise more available to more people!
Who Should Read Enlightenment Now?
Enlightenment is a good fit, a good
challenge for scholars and students alike, for teachers and for novices, for
scientists and liberal ‘artists.’ Rather more like a science textbook than a
novel you read for an English course, it cannot be read quickly – there is too
much to digest.
Enlightenment is a Renaissance read
– for the amateur philosopher or psychologist or even geneticist or poet or
mathematician. Pinker ties together all these areas of thought and discovery
and might be considered a name-dropper: if you aren’t familiar with Descartes
or Pythagoras or Semmelweiss you probably have heard of Aristotle and
Watson-and-Crick, and Pasteur – all are referenced as well as many more
characters and worthy thinkers.
Note: I have not used my
highlighter more in any other book. Neither have I dog-eared more pages!
*Catch
his TED talk or listen to him on WAMU’s 1A or Talk of the Nation, Kojo Nnamdi,
Steven Colbert, Marketplace, . . . check out his genome or his brain or his
favorite books at stevenpinker.com (About).
