Books We're Reading: Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

If you are tired of listening to histrionic reporters who are eager to stimulate your fear center in order to increase their ratings or the cocktail fodder that consists of friends belaboring how awful the world seems right now, I encourage you to pick up the book, “Enlightenment Now” by Steven Pinker. Pinker is considered one of the world’s most influential thinkers and it’s obvious from the first page how he earned that reputation. He debunks most of the prevailing fearmongering with facts and figures that sparks hope and enthusiasm for the future. He masterfully makes the case for the success of the intellectual and philosophical movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that emphasized reason and individualism over tradition as influenced by the church and the monarchy at that time. He argues that the gift of the Enlightenment is “the conviction that knowledge can enhance human flourishing.” According to Pinker, it is extremely important we embrace the ideals of reason, science and humanism to confront today’s problems and stay the course of progress. At a time when we are barraged by messages that science in the form of artificial intelligence and genetic engineering will bring our destruction and that we should abandon our democratic institutions and long for a time that never existed when things were supposedly better it’s not going to be easy. However, he arms you with great data to help turn the tide in reason’s favor.

Interested in reading this book? You can find it here.