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Humankind
- A Hopeful History
- Narrated by: Rutger Bregman, Thomas Judd
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
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Humankind
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Publisher's Summary
From a New York Times best-selling author comes "the riveting pick-me-up we all need right now" (People) that argues that humans thrive in a crisis and that our innate kindness and cooperation have been the greatest factors in our long-term success.
If there is one belief that has united the left and the right, psychologists and philosophers, ancient thinkers and modern ones, it is the tacit assumption that humans are bad. It's a notion that drives newspaper headlines and guides the laws that shape our lives. From Machiavelli to Hobbes, Freud to Pinker, the roots of this belief have sunk deep into Western thought. Human beings, we're taught, are by nature selfish and governed primarily by self-interest.
But what if it isn't true? International best seller Rutger Bregman provides new perspective on the past 200,000 years of human history, setting out to prove that we are hardwired for kindness, geared toward cooperation rather than competition, and more inclined to trust rather than distrust one another. In fact this instinct has a firm evolutionary basis going back to the beginning of Homo sapiens.
From the real-life Lord of the Flies to the solidarity in the aftermath of the Blitz, the hidden flaws in the Stanford prison experiment to the true story of twin brothers on opposite sides who helped Mandela end apartheid, Bregman shows us that believing in human generosity and collaboration isn't merely optimistic - it's realistic. Moreover, it has huge implications for how society functions. When we think the worst of people, it brings out the worst in our politics and economics. But if we believe in the reality of humanity's kindness and altruism, it will form the foundation for achieving true change in society, a case that Bregman makes convincingly with his signature wit, refreshing frankness, and memorable storytelling.
"The Sapiens of 2020." (The Guardian)
"Humankind made me see humanity from a fresh perspective." (Yuval Noah Harari, author of the number one best seller Sapiens)
Longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
One of the Washington Post's 50 Notable Nonfiction Works in 2020
What the critics say
"Rutger Bregman's extraordinary new book is a revelation. Although Humankind is masterful in its grasp of history, both ancient and modern, the real achievement is Bregman's application of history to a new understanding of human nature. Humankind changes the conversation and lights the path to a brighter future. We need it now more than ever." (Susan Cain, author of the number one New York Times best seller Quiet)
"This stunning book will change how you see the world and your fellow humans. Humankind is mind-expanding and, more important, heart-expanding. We have never needed its message more than now." (Johann Hari, New York Times best-selling author of Lost Connections and Chasing the Scream
"An extraordinarily powerful declaration of faith in the innate goodness and natural decency of human beings. Never dewy-eyed, wistful or naive, Rutger Bregman makes a wholly robust and convincing case for believing - despite so much apparent evidence to the contrary - that we are not the savage, irredeemably greedy, violent, and rapacious species we can be led into thinking ourselves to be. Hugely, highly, and happily recommended." (Stephen Fry, author of Mythos and The Ode Less Travelled)
More from the same
What listeners say about Humankind
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jerald Vandenberg
- 2021-10-24
A beautiful, counterintuitive storyline
No other book has done so much to restore faith in humanity. The book elegantly dismantles the long-held theory that people are basically monsters that live their lives suppressing our desires to do evil.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mia
- 2021-04-19
Great book!
This book really changed my world view. It's an huge antidote to cynicism and pessimism. Reading the introduction, I was very skeptical, but you have to keep your mind open and actually look at the evidences he presents.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Julie O'Brien
- 2023-05-28
Great information!
Should be required reading/listening for all of humankind. What a difference it would make.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kate Ferguson
- 2023-05-06
SO INTERESTING AND ACCESSIBLE
I listened to this book while on a work assignment, an hour and a half commute each way from my home.
Every single morning I stumbled out of my car rushing towards my colleagues with “guess what I learned TODAY!”
The evidence presented here is incredible, compelling, hopeful, sweet, wonderfully inspiring,
AND tackles many of the complete lies about many of the psycho/sociological experiments that were being conducted in the 1960s by doctors who were trying to “make a name for themselves” but were in fact COMPLETELY FABRICATED.
Never again will I refer to William Holding’s Lord of the Flies as anything but wild flight of fancy.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 2023-04-13
Food for thought
The author makes some valid observations but I can’t help but think the world would be a different place if all humans had the same good intentions, even if they varied somewhat. The more things change, the more they stay the same. A few bright spots throughout that give you something to think about in any case.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lex
- 2023-04-02
Please read this book.
I'm not usually a fan of "this is your sign" posts, but if you're reading this review, please take this as your sign to read this book. I would recommend this book to everyone everywhere. You will walk away feeling validated and, as the title says, hopeful.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Huabin Luo
- 2023-02-11
I wish it to be true
The book. Has really given me some hope that humankind is good in nature, but reality does say otherwise.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Igor Gavric
- 2022-07-22
Incredible Work
Listening to this book changed my view of human kind. The book is written really well, and supported by research. This should be read by everyone.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- matthew p.
- 2022-07-10
This is a must read!
I hope this book give you what it gave me: a hope for a brighter future.
Please do not hesitate to support this blonde Dutchman!
Google Rutgers Bergman vs tucker Carlson on YouTube.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Leninmarino
- 2022-03-29
This book changed the way I see the world...
The proposition of the author and his reaearch is so good that one left with no other option but to question the way see humankind. Love it!
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Andrea Allen
- 2021-02-09
He’s correct but he misrepresented the data
At first I loved this book. I share the author’s view of human nature and loved reading about the evidence in support of it. Unfortunately, once he got to research I know, I realized he was cherry picking and distorting the data. I then realized he was demonizing the researchers who he presented as having opposing viewpoints (not all really did). He fell into what he was criticizing the media and others for: make a dramatic story with terrible humans because that will attract viewers. I ended up not believing the data in other areas, research I was unfamiliar with, because I don’t trust him. I still believe his thesis but am disappointed that I don’t trust the support he provided.
133 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Joey Caster
- 2020-06-08
I would have given 5 stars but...
This was an excellent book that I thoroughly enjoyed. The one thing that kept me from giving it 5 stars was the author’s hypocrisy. He states that there is good and kindness in everyone and that we need to just look for it. He states you can find good in “murderers, thieves and rapists” but when he speaks of Trump supporters he regards them as lost degenerates. He should practice what he is preaching in this book and look for the good in everyone... including Trump supporters.
116 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 2020-10-31
That's Not What "Selfish Gene" Means.
Throughout the book the author constantly juxtaposes his ideas about humans being selfish with the book the selfish gene by Richard Dawkins. The problem is he either didn't read this book or didn't understand it. As the author seems to labor under the false assumption that a selfish gene means a gene that makes you selfish, but that's not what it means a selfish gene is a gene that is itself selfish so it wants to produce as many copies of itself as possible including copies in other bodies. The selfish gene is about where morality comes from. It doesn't exist in opposition to this idea rather it's a more refined form of it. To that end I recommend the selfish gene over this book if you're interested in this subject matter.
91 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Adam S McConnell
- 2020-06-19
Really good, but...
The book is fantastic, though I don't believe that the author could not have read (or if he did he didn't understand), "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins.
He references Dawkins' book multiple times and claims that the book concludes with the idea that humans are inherently selfish. This is not the case and is a common misconception of the ideas put forward in the book popularized by media outlets looking for a story that sells - which is ironically something that Mr. Bregman derides in his book.
Part of "The Selfish Gene" is about a genetic basis for moral behavior and how the genes themselves are selfish. Not that the genes make the organisms (aka survival machines) they build inherently selfish.
This erroneous assumption/conclusion on the part of Bregman doesn't take away from the main drive of "Humankind," but it was like nails on a chalkboard for me to hear the erroneous conclusion throughout the book.
I highly reccomend reading both wonderful books for yourself.
71 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Trebla
- 2020-07-27
Philosoph wannabe drops the Ball
Bregman cruises along in several channels with impressive lack of depth, to get to his final Directions for Life, or whatever he calls it. While mentioning them, it is clear that Bregman did not understand Darwinian Evolution, nor Steven Pinker, nor did he probably read The Selfish Gene. Yet he launches his construct of "Homo puppy " as the genuine core of humanity. He mentions Frans DeWaal & other primatologist with such superficial grasp of the deep seated characteristics of animal homophily and the cooperative nature of successful tribes yet fails to incorporate those documented findings.
Spend your time elsewhere
49 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- trishH2O
- 2020-06-07
Not What We Need
I truly love this concept. How to be kind and how we can rewrite our story.... if you are WHITE. This book does not help me do the work I need to be doing right now. It is from the white perspective. If you come from a place of privilege, you do not have the historical abuse, racism, suppression, injustice, .... As a white woman, I have the luxury to look at the world around me as an opportunity. Doors will open because of the color of my skin. As a woman, I do struggle, but I am still privileged. We need to listen to other voices right now. If you are reading this book, GOOD. But also look at other books that help be ANTI-RACIST. I recommend "My Grandmother's Hands" "How To Be An Antiracist." Mr. Bregman, thank you for your research and hard work, but right now we have other work to do.
19 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- J.Michael Campbell
- 2020-06-11
An epically important idea casually addressed here
The central premise is huge and defendable. We have built civilization around our weakest links and assume the worst of each other. It could be different. While I like a lot of of the data points the author brings to make this case, I find his style a little whimsical like reading a freshman year college journaling project. Some of the topics deserve more rigorous treatment. This book seems to me like a simple casual outline of the more powerful serious book it could have been and which the subject so richly deserves.
15 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alex Horovitz
- 2020-06-10
Popper's Open Society meets Nicholas Nassim Taleb
I hate to say it, but if you fail to grasp the concepts being laid out here, you might just be stupid. Rutger Bregmank lays out the evidence (historical and otherwise) for the case that our worst fears about our fellow humans are largely unfounded. Worse, they are mostly made up without data and evidence to support them.
With all that is going on in the world, take the time to step back and challenge your negative assumptions of your fellow humans. Bregmank shows us the better Angeles of our nature is the rule not the exception. He lays to waste the notion that humans are innately selfish and greedy.
When it comes right down to it, almost all of us choose to help each other when we see someone in need. The myths perpetrated by political, economic, and religious leaders to the contrary serve only to maintain the power they hold over us. To borrow from "A Bug's Life" this is a book written for most of us (the ants) to remind us that, through our natural tendencies towards kindness, we are more powerful than them (the grasshoppers).
12 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Rui Nie
- 2021-04-05
Good intentions but missing the point
The world is not going to change just because the author made a few good suggestions. Unless we have radically different systems of governance and resource distribution, things will carry on exactly the same. It is not as if we have not been trying to teach children the right moral values. But the moment they enter society, those who believe and practice them lose out!
One suggestions for the author: by making all the famous intellectuals sound evil, it reinforce the world view that the system is completely corrupt and we can trust no one, not even the author of this book!
11 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- James Kennedy
- 2020-08-17
Some Good Points and a Lot of Opinion
The author made a few good points about human nature with some scientific studies that were interesting. The author also made a lot of opinions. Perhaps there should be a follow up on the results of the feel good law enforcement tactics. South Africa is a disaster and the criminals are out of control in the United States. Escalations from broken glass to violent crime occurred as expected.
8 people found this helpful