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  • The Better Angels of Our Nature

  • Why Violence Has Declined
  • By: Steven Pinker
  • Narrated by: Arthur Morey
  • Length: 36 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (930 ratings)
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The Better Angels of Our Nature

By: Steven Pinker
Narrated by: Arthur Morey
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Summary

“If I could give each of you a graduation present, it would be this - the most inspiring book I've ever read."
- Bill Gates (May, 2017)

Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year

The author of Enlightenment Now and The New York Times bestseller The Stuff of Thought offers a controversial history of violence.

Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true: violence has been diminishing for millennia and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species's existence. For most of history, war, slavery, infanticide, child abuse, assassinations, programs, gruesome punishments, deadly quarrels, and genocide were ordinary features of life. But today, Pinker shows (with the help of more than a hundred graphs and maps) all these forms of violence have dwindled and are widely condemned. How has this happened?

This groundbreaking book continues Pinker's exploration of the essence of human nature, mixing psychology and history to provide a remarkable picture of an increasingly nonviolent world. The key, he explains, is to understand our intrinsic motives - the inner demons that incline us toward violence and the better angels that steer us away - and how changing circumstances have allowed our better angels to prevail. Exploding fatalist myths about humankind's inherent violence and the curse of modernity, this ambitious and provocative book is sure to be hotly debated in living rooms and the Pentagon alike, and will challenge and change the way we think about our society.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2011 by Steven Pinker. (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

What listeners say about The Better Angels of Our Nature

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A Magnum Opus in every sense!

For such a long book, it never gets boring. I was fascinated from start to finish. Pinker has certainly done his research, and the book is packed with references to current research. His analysis of human violence is comprehensive, covering history, philosophy, neuropsychology, evolutionary biology, genetics, social theory, religious beliefs, child rearing practices, theories on the origins of war, demographic correlates of violence and much more on the demons and angels of our nature.

Contrary to what we might think, he argues convincingly that we are getting more humane. No more do we burn cats (or heretics) alive for entertainment. No more do we torture people to death, or subject children to cruel and unusual punishments and even though our weapons of war are deadlier than ever, every life lost - even our enemies, becomes a source of regret.

The book holds several surprises: that literature may be a cause of our greater tolerance of others, that empathy has a dark side in favouritism, that "mirror neurones" do not necessarily make us more humane, that the Flynn effect (increasing IQ) may also be contributing to our capacity for compassion, that the era of "Flower Power" bucked the downward trend with a sharp increase in crime and violence.

We will never be without violence, but for anyone who despairs at the modern world, there is much hope to be found here. It would seem that the angels of empathy, reason, self-control, prudence, fairness, ethical norms, and human rights are slowly winning out against the demons of instrumental violence, sadism, revenge, rage and ideology.

This is such a great book!

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41 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Reasons to be happy

Such a wonderful, positive, book. History is not just one damn thing after another; with SP as your guide you can see it as a systematic journey from us being animals to us being (more or less) civilised. Pinker is such an academic that he never gets round to throwing his hat in the air and crowing about how great it is that there are actually reasons to be optimistic and to hope (against the pounding of the 24/7 TV news) that human moral thinking is developing alongside our visible technologies. Still, he does admit that it is p o s s i b l e we are not going to hell in a hand basket, as I previously thought. Bravo Steven!

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23 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A long listen. But worth it.

I am a forensic psychiatrist and violence is my bread and butter. But this account of human violence and its fall was news to me. So thought provoking and research cited here will become / has already become part of my professional lexicon. Thank you.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

All you the ever wanted to know about nastiness

Good - comprehensive, interesting, well researched, amusing, well narrated
Not so good - very long, a bit repetitive
I am glad that I completed this book but I was also glad when it ended.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb

For such a big book and a complex subject it is never boring. I have both read the book and listened to it and I recommend it to anyone. Its optimistic premise basically is we are all becoming nicer, It is impossible to sumarise his arguments are cogent and very believable. I know he is right. I grew up in Dublin and i am 45 but in my short life I have seen the realization of civil rights, women,s rights, gay right, children's right and even animal rights.



This book gives a history of our journey to them. it is wonderful.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Much too depressingly violent for me.

Despite the optimistic title, there is much too much gore and violence that for the second time, I'm returning this book.
struggled to finish it again

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Why we should be happy we're alive today!

This book is an in-depth assessment of violence, and presents the evidence for the decline in violence, and despite that, makes for a really positive, uplifting read!



Although the narrator is sometimes a little 'one-note', it is due to the fact that this is an unabridged version offering every list (for example, of wars) that the book has. There are some amusing parts to the book which I think the narrator covers well.



It's annoying not being able to highlight facts or parts which I found especially interesting, but it's really good to be able to be absorbed in something so complex, challenging and satisfying without having to carry around a book which weighs more than I do.



I'm so glad we no longer set cats on fire for entertainment, relish public torture like crucifixion, or believe that children must be beaten until they bleed daily. This book has cheered me up every day to think of how far we have come!



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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Truly a masterpiece

Where does The Better Angels of Our Nature rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I'm a great fan of Steven Pinker, so I started with a favourable opinion. This one doesn't quite match up to The Blank Slate, but comes close. The subject matter - that the human race is getting progressive less violent - is counter-intuitive, but Pinker's case is made relentlessly, logically and empirically. I was completely convinced. It's dauntingly long and I don't think I would have got through the book, but listening to it worked really well.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Dr
  • 08-07-13

Fascinating, surprising and at times horrific.

Where does The Better Angels of Our Nature rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's definitely up there with the best. Very thought provoking, and life-affirming.

Who was your favorite character and why?

This was a non-fiction publication, and thus there were no characters.

Which character – as performed by Arthur Morey – was your favourite?

This was a non-fiction publication, and thus there were no characters.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It gives one hope that we're actually making progress as a race.

Any additional comments?

Not for the faint hearted - some grim details, and it takes effort, but that effort is very well rewarded.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Extraordinary book

This has to be one of the best books I've read/heard. Far from just being a compelling argument of violence declining, this is a pretty all-encompassing analysis of the human psyche drawing on history, genetics, pyschology and many other disciplines. I've been reading various pieces of the puzzle for years and the author selects many of the most credible and stitches them into a very coherent and self aware story. brilliant!

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5 people found this helpful