The Better Angels of Our Nature
Why Violence Has Declined
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The Better Angels of Our Nature
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Narrated by:
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Arthur Morey
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By:
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Steven Pinker
About this listen
“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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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Thomas Darby
- 08-10-2019
a massive book.
buy the actual book and highlight and dog ear the stats you find interesting. it's really 36 hours of statistics but fascinating statistics nonetheless
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Jacob Hawli
- 28-11-2020
Wow
This is a lot, I definitely gained brain cells by reading it
Includes everything in his discussion about the reduction of violence. From history, to neurology and psychology.
Really really insightful in regard to humans and depths to which we can operate
If you can handle the long listen then it is a must
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- Paul Wendelborn
- 25-05-2017
Great insights things are looking better
What refreshing insight into how we are not decending into an abyss of violence but an age of enlightenment and humanistic values. Zero sum is only outcome of an aggressive society.
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- Annalie
- 01-10-2016
Highly recommended
Absolutely worthwhile persevering through 36 hours of informative, well narrated, thought provoking, enriching, wellresearched literature.
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- B. Rushworth
- 12-06-2017
Essential reading for everyone
I got so much out of this book. It covers enormous ground but every minute is informative and interesting with good examples. The author is certainly very knowledgeable. So glad I read it.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-01-2018
magnificant must read
it should have been thaught in any high school and university all around the world
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- Anonymous User
- 02-11-2021
Gratitude
If nothing, it is thorough. Made me grateful for my life. Changed my life and perspective on society for the better. Made me reconsider how I interact with the news media. Improved my mental health too.
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- Doug Grubert
- 19-03-2024
Thought-provoking
A deep and thorough examination of violence across the ages. I loved being challenged to think about the ways that the significance of current issues are inflated relative to historical issues. Despite many of the current problems in the world, if I stumbled across a Time-Machine that could take me back to a different point of time in history (but a point from which I could not return to the present) I’m confident that I’d stay in the present.
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- chimene
- 29-04-2017
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Pinker's tome trudges the layways, highways and byways of history to shine light on a path that appears to lead always upward. Flying ever in the face of the popular misconception that the contemporary world is tumbling into a Gotham City scale abyss of crime and destruction, Steven Pinker outlines an arc of growing redemption for our kind
What other book might you compare The Better Angels of Our Nature to, and why?
Similar in tone to the recent works of historian Yuval Noah Harari, The Better Angels of Our Nature outstrips his contemporaries in its display of exhaustive research and rigorous analysis.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
Pinker makes the freshest theories of criminology and sociology comprehensible and directly applicable to the theme of reduction in violence. Employing ideas of 'self-help justice' among marginalized groups, his assessment of the causes of conflict is both enlightening and astute.
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
The detailed study of a disturbing array of sadistic punishments employed throughout the ages by our species made for moments of nausea and disgust, nevertheless, the events related are neither gratuitous nor sensationalized.
Any additional comments?
This is an extraordinary work that reveals a life-time's commitment to truth rather than assumption. The author has taken a flow specimen at every bend in the river of human history to examine whether the discharge shows a greater or lesser propensity for fatal toxicity. The conclusions he comes to give reason for cautious optimism as well as motivation to redouble our efforts as a society to value the life of all beings.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Simon Webster
- 30-07-2015
Epic
Vast, enlightening and beautifully read.
This book has actually changed the way I see the world, and appreciate the age in which we live. Maybe humanity is going on the right direction after all.
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5 people found this helpful