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  • Enlightenment Now

  • The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
  • By: Steven Pinker
  • Narrated by: Arthur Morey
  • Length: 19 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,295 ratings)
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Enlightenment Now

By: Steven Pinker
Narrated by: Arthur Morey
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

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 realising 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. 

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our desktop site.

©2018 Steven Pinker (P)2018 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about Enlightenment Now

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A must for everyone.

This is a fabulous piece of writing from one of the worlds most enlightened polymaths. It's an uplifting journey of reason and human progress. Highly recommended.

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23 people found this helpful

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Great book, bad audiobook

First, I would like to comment on Pinker's work.
It cannot be doubted that Steven Pinker is a wise man, demonstrating here rare intellectual qualities as well as judgement. However, as this is a piece of work focused on facts and not opinions (which is actually what it also tries to educate the reader on), it requires a high level of trust to be put on the author in regards to the validity of the various claims, statistics and numbers accompanied by the level of trust that the author is taking into account all sides and angles of each subject.

There arrle quite a few times that I disagree with Mr. Pinker, mainly in the inequality chapter and his viewpoint on socialism and socialist countries (e.g. bringing up people's misery in Cuba or Venezuela, failing to take into account how the sanctions imposed on these countries, strangled them to their knees etc). I wouldn't account it as bias but indicates a failure in looking political matters more spherically and from an objective standpoint.

Now, about the audiobook. This is a poor recording. It sounds very muffled and bassy, very hard to listen to clearly while driving on the motorway with engine and tyre noise at the background; something that has not been the problem with all other audiobooks in my library which sound crisp and clear. Also, I would like to mention that Arthur Morey's narration is not doing it for me as it sounds outdated in style with a heavy american accent.

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20 people found this helpful

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The kind of book that makes you like humans

buy it. read it. make notes.

Throw the good facts at people when they're sad at the world.

Then listen to it again!

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19 people found this helpful

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the middle is worth the read

preachy ending - dull beginning - but the middle section and all the facts contained are worth the read - some excellent facts backed with data that prove we should all smile a little more based on the knowledge we truly have never had it so good. real pity about the end section as it almost ruined the book

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14 people found this helpful

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Not sure what the point was...

First off I loved "The Better Angels Of Our Nature", but this book falls short of his other work. The premise of this book is the social and technological progress are good, then fine, who says otherwise?, he uses the most random facts from different times and countries to say things have gotten better since the 1700s or middle ages...great, what's your point?

He cherry picks facts to create a rosy licture while barely acknowledging the real issues of growing mass wealth inequality and the dilution if democracy by corporate interest.

His use of cherry picked statistics is such that he defends the age of reason while not displaying much himself, very disappointing.

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13 people found this helpful

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Rational and optimistic view of the world

Feeling gloomy about recent political and societal developments, felling uneasy about apparent reversal of liberalism and progressive thinking? Get some dose of Steven Pinker's unabashedly optimistic account of our long term march towards enlightenment and more humane, fair, liberal and prosperous society. Brexit and 2016 elections are but minor speedbumps on the road to lift millions out of poverty, fight deadly diseases, discover more about our world through scientific method, and spread respect for basic human rights and freedoms. Human condition may full of flaws but it's filled with hope and progress.

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10 people found this helpful

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A case for humanistic reason

For me, this has been a very enjoyable audio. I can relate to much of Steven Pinker's reasoned thoughts and find the ideas within presented in a very easy to comprehend manner.

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7 people found this helpful

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Essential listening

Everyone should take notice of the statistics presented in this book. Enlightening and uplifting, clearly presented. The real antidote to depressing headlines isn't to switch off the news, it's to appreciate how far we have come.

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5 people found this helpful

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Content good but

Dreadful robotic narration. Returned it and got written version because Pinker has interesting things to say.

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5 people found this helpful

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Great content but a hard slog as an audiobook

Found it difficult to stay enthused during the audiobook as it seemed to drag on. Lots of references to charts and data which would be easier to follow when reading the book. Great points made and well articulated however. Would ultimately suggest that this is more suited to a book than audiobook.

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4 people found this helpful