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The Better Angels of Our Nature
- Why Violence Has Declined
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 36 hrs and 39 mins
- Categories: Politics & Social Sciences, Social Sciences
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The Blank Slate
- The Modern Denial of Human Nature
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
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In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading experts on language and the mind, explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits, denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts.
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Fascinating study of human cognition
- By Anonymous User on 2018-10-27
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How the Mind Works
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 26 hrs and 5 mins
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In this delightful, acclaimed bestseller, one of the world’s leading cognitive scientists tackles the workings of the human mind. What makes us rational—and why are we so often irrational? How do we see in three dimensions? What makes us happy, afraid, angry, disgusted, or sexually aroused? Why do we fall in love? And how do we grapple with the imponderables of morality, religion, and consciousness?
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great, but slow at times
- By ben kuzmich on 2018-07-07
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Enlightenment Now
- The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 19 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data: Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West but worldwide.
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Intellectual optimistic Steven Pinker did it again
- By Justin Greeno on 2018-04-07
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Factfulness
- Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
- Written by: Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Ola Rosling
- Narrated by: Richard Harries
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of carrying only opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. When asked simple questions about global trends - what percentage of the world's population live in poverty; why the world's population is increasing; how many girls finish school - we systematically get the answers wrong. In Factfulness, professor of international health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two longtime collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens.
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Helping you clear your head of the NOISE.
- By Anthony I on 2018-11-30
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The Selfish Gene
- Written by: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. His theories have helped change the whole nature of the study of social biology, and have forced thousands to rethink their beliefs about life.
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Life changing book
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-07-25
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The Stuff of Thought
- Language as a Window into Human Nature
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Dean Olsher
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
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In The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker marries two of the subjects he knows best: language and human nature. The result is a fascinating look at how our words explain our nature. What does swearing reveal about our emotions? Why does innuendo disclose something about relationships? Pinker reveals how our use of prepositions and tenses taps into peculiarly human concepts of space and time, and how our nouns and verbs speak to our notions of matter.
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It’s not in Steven Pinkers written words
- By lori Nixon on 2019-05-05
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The Blank Slate
- The Modern Denial of Human Nature
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
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Overall
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Performance
-
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In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading experts on language and the mind, explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits, denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts.
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Fascinating study of human cognition
- By Anonymous User on 2018-10-27
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How the Mind Works
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 26 hrs and 5 mins
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-
Overall
-
Performance
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Story
In this delightful, acclaimed bestseller, one of the world’s leading cognitive scientists tackles the workings of the human mind. What makes us rational—and why are we so often irrational? How do we see in three dimensions? What makes us happy, afraid, angry, disgusted, or sexually aroused? Why do we fall in love? And how do we grapple with the imponderables of morality, religion, and consciousness?
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great, but slow at times
- By ben kuzmich on 2018-07-07
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Enlightenment Now
- The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 19 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data: Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West but worldwide.
-
-
Intellectual optimistic Steven Pinker did it again
- By Justin Greeno on 2018-04-07
-
Factfulness
- Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
- Written by: Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Ola Rosling
- Narrated by: Richard Harries
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of carrying only opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. When asked simple questions about global trends - what percentage of the world's population live in poverty; why the world's population is increasing; how many girls finish school - we systematically get the answers wrong. In Factfulness, professor of international health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two longtime collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens.
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Helping you clear your head of the NOISE.
- By Anthony I on 2018-11-30
-
The Selfish Gene
- Written by: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. His theories have helped change the whole nature of the study of social biology, and have forced thousands to rethink their beliefs about life.
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Life changing book
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-07-25
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The Stuff of Thought
- Language as a Window into Human Nature
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Dean Olsher
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker marries two of the subjects he knows best: language and human nature. The result is a fascinating look at how our words explain our nature. What does swearing reveal about our emotions? Why does innuendo disclose something about relationships? Pinker reveals how our use of prepositions and tenses taps into peculiarly human concepts of space and time, and how our nouns and verbs speak to our notions of matter.
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It’s not in Steven Pinkers written words
- By lori Nixon on 2019-05-05
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The Righteous Mind
- Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
- Written by: Jonathan Haidt
- Narrated by: Jonathan Haidt
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
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In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. His starting point is moral intuition - the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right.
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Interesting listen, repetitive
- By Pablo on 2018-06-30
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The Madness of Crowds
- Gender, Race and Identity
- Written by: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Douglas Murray
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Madness of Crowds Douglas Murray investigates the dangers of ‘woke’ culture and the rise of identity politics. In lively, razor-sharp prose he examines the most controversial issues of our moment: sexuality, gender, technology and race, with interludes on the Marxist foundations of ‘wokeness’, the impact of tech and how, in an increasingly online culture, we must relearn the ability to forgive.
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Preaching to the choir and little else.
- By Gerry Corcoran on 2019-09-29
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Cynical Theories
- How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity - and Why This Harms Everybody
- Written by: Helen Pluckrose, James Lindsay
- Narrated by: Helen Pluckrose
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Have you heard that language is violence and that science is sexist? Have you read that certain people shouldn't practice yoga? Or been told that being obese is healthy, that there is no such thing as biological sex, or that only White people can be racist? Are you confused by these ideas, and do you wonder how they have managed to challenge the logic of Western society? In this probing volume, Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay document the evolution of the dogma that informs these ideas, from its coarse origins in French postmodernism to its refinement within activist academic fields.
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Postmodernism has sex with Critical Theory ...
- By HRPuff&Stuff on 2020-12-11
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The Parasitic Mind
- How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense
- Written by: Gad Saad
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Serving as a powerful follow-up to Jordan Peterson’s book 12 Rules for Life, Dr. Gad Saad unpacks what is really happening in progressive safe zones, why we need to be paying more attention to these trends, and what we must do to stop the spread of dangerous thinking. A professor at Concordia University who has witnessed this troubling epidemic firsthand, Dr. Saad dissects a multitude of these concerning forces (corrupt thought patterns, belief systems, attitudes, etc.) that have given rise to a stifling political correctness in our society.
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Many strong points, a few misguiding implications
- By Anonymous User on 2020-11-22
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Beyond Order
- 12 More Rules for Life
- Written by: Jordan B. Peterson
- Narrated by: Jordan B. Peterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In 12 Rules for Life, acclaimed public thinker and clinical psychologist Jordan B. Peterson offered an antidote to the chaos in our lives: eternal truths applied to modern anxieties. Now in his long-awaited sequel, Peterson goes further, showing that part of life's meaning comes from reaching out into the domain beyond what we know, and adapting to an ever-transforming world.
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The Language Instinct
- How the Mind Creates Language
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In this classic, the world’s expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution. The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association....
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Fantastic! ...but not as an audiobook.
- By Anonymous User on 2019-06-26
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The Moral Landscape
- How Science Can Determine Human Values
- Written by: Sam Harris
- Narrated by: Sam Harris
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In this explosive new book, Sam Harris tears down the wall between scientific facts and human values, arguing that most people are simply mistaken about the relationship between morality and the rest of human knowledge. Harris urges us to think about morality in terms of human and animal well-being, viewing the experiences of conscious creatures as peaks and valleys on a "moral landscape".
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Sam Harris is a Timeless Intellectual
- By Tristan Haak on 2020-07-07
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Kinds of Minds
- Toward an Understanding of Consciousness
- Written by: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Combining ideas from philosophy, artificial intelligence, and neurobiology, Daniel Dennett leads the listener on a fascinating journey of inquiry, exploring such intriguing possibilities as: Can any of us really know what is going on in someone else's mind? What distinguishes the human mind from the minds of animals, especially those capable of complex behavior? If such animals, for instance, were magically given the power of language, would their communities evolve an intelligence as subtly discriminating as ours?
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Good book, imperfect performance.
- By Lindsay B. on 2019-12-27
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Why We Sleep
- Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
- Written by: Matthew Walker
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when we don't sleep. Compared to the other basic drives in life - eating, drinking, and reproducing - the purpose of sleep remained elusive.
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Neat facts and great advice for better sleep
- By Connor Morgan-Lang on 2018-07-04
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Homo Deus
- A Brief History of Tomorrow
- Written by: Yuval Noah Harari
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams, and nightmares that will shape the 21st century - from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus.
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Accept minor defects and enjoy this book
- By Reza on 2017-12-10
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Giving the Devil His Due
- Reflections of a Scientific Humanist
- Written by: Michael Shermer
- Narrated by: Michael Shermer
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Who is the "Devil"? And what is he due? The devil is anyone who disagrees with you. And what he is due is the right to speak his mind. He must have this for your own safety's sake, because his freedom is inextricably tied to your own. If he can be censored, why shouldn't you be censored? If we put barriers up to silence "unpleasant" ideas, what's to stop the silencing of any discussion? This book is a full-throated defense of free speech and open inquiry in politics, science, and culture by the New York Times best-selling author and skeptic Michael Shermer.
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Mixed Bag
- By Tom Johnson on 2020-10-25
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Origin Story
- A Big History of Everything
- Written by: David Christian
- Narrated by: Jamie Jackson
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Most historians study the smallest slivers of time, emphasizing specific dates, individuals, and documents. But what would it look like to study the whole of history, from the big bang through the present day - and even into the remote future? How would looking at the full span of time change the way we perceive the universe, the earth, and our very existence? These were the questions David Christian set out to answer when he created the field of "Big History", the most exciting new approach to understanding where we have been, where we are, and where we are going.
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A must read for anyone curious about our existence
- By Ken '77 on 2020-07-14
Publisher's 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.
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What listeners say about The Better Angels of Our Nature
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Mike Reiter
- 2018-01-02
Better read than listened to
First this is really long and the subject matter quite dry. A problem with listening to it is as he lays out his research because you were listening to it you can't quickly check his facts. So unless you are willing to just accept everything he says at face value in which case you could probably not bother reading it , it's slow going. At any point when you want to check something that he says or one of the sources he quotes you have to rewind the audio and that just makes it difficult. There were at least two cases where he quoted something or relayed an anecdote which I knew were incorrect without looking them up so it made the rest of the book suspect to me.
5 people found this helpful
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- William H.
- 2018-12-07
Best and most interesting book I have ever read.
This is my first time listening to the book after having read it once. I suggest reading the physical copy and taking your time to understand the relevence of the information in everyday life. Understanding why we behave the way we do helps you to control your impulsive responses and genuinely enjoy life more. So many interesting behavioural studies referenced. Unfortunately, I found the audio quality to be poor. Whenever he makes an 'S' sound it is piercing.
1 person found this helpful
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- Paul David Evans
- 2020-12-22
A tad long but full of good info
I was a little disappointed to find that a study had been done that found that small white children were predisposed to others of their own skin color and a corresponding study with blacks wasnt mentioned (if in fact one was ever conducted ) it should be that any study of any aspect of race needs to be conducted upon all races simultaneously as part of the same study the second anyone suggests a theory about a minority race its fire and brimstone s all we ever hear is how white people are inherently evil
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- Anonymous User
- 2019-10-21
Excellent book
Loved this book for the vast breath of subjects touched on regarding the betterment of human kind.
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- Hermes
- 2019-05-14
A masterpiece
At first I didn't like this book. After listening to all of it, now it is among my favourite three.
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- Jeremy Latawiec
- 2019-04-30
Good news, everyone!
Great narration. Spectacular insight on human nature and our collective journey. Humbling, uplifting, enlightening. Will make you yearn for an even better world and motivate you to work for it. A still more glorious dawn awaits.
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- Trevor
- 2018-10-19
requires many listenings
This is a very exhaustive look at violence over time. It will require many listenings to catch all the points raised by the author. This book in combined with his lastest book "Enlightenment Now" will provide an informed empirical narrative of how we got to our current state and how we could (perhaps should) progress.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2018-10-08
A must-listen
incredible experience. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to have a more nuanced understanding of history, modernity and human nature.
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- Dan
- 2018-06-04
So damn long
Like at least one person has probably developed a hernia carrying the physical copy. Like you can probably burn through a dictionary in 36 hours. Like if you tried listening to this for 30mins a day at lunch it will take you a quarter of a year.
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- Adam
- 2018-03-13
best book I've read (listened to) ever! get it!
best audible ever! recommend to anyone, especially if you want an uplifting analysis of the state of society.
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- Kindle Customer
- 2019-03-25
A great book but...
As with all the authors books it is well written and researched. The performance is great. But since the book uses graphs and tables to help present the data and there are no PDFs available for download it makes using this book barely useable to understand the data presented. If you are reading this book to be truly informed, I suggest you buy the hard copy or Kindle edition. I believe Audible should either make the data available by PDF as it is in other books and courses or they should inform the reader that they are not available.
70 people found this helpful
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- Eric
- 2011-11-11
I'd kill for another book this good
Without question of the best audiobooks I've listened to, out of over 100 so far. An exploration of the decline in violence through human history, taking pains to make a coherent, substantive and well supported case for every assertion it makes. Detailed and technical without being dull, this book makes one of the best cases I can imagine for the general advancement of the species and the triumph of modernity. Exceptional.
120 people found this helpful
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- Francis J DiBona
- 2011-10-21
Violence is decreasing everywhere. Who knew?
Steven Pinker is an intellectual of the first order. Yet all of his book are readily accessible to an educated reader (well, maybe not The Stuff of Thought, which was difficult "stuff").
The premise of this book is that violence is decreasing throughout the world. That includes all kinds of violence: murder, rape, war, genocide and even terrorism! And the decrease is evident over all time scales. Over the last 10,000 years the chances of being a victim of violence has declined dramatically. This is true for the last 1000 years, last 100 years and even the last 10 years. You might think that this is absurd from reading the headlines and listening to TV news but Pinker presents exhaustive data to prove his point. He gives us FBI reports, WHO data, government studies and scholarly studies. He also tries in every case to explain the "why" of the decrease. We have become more and more civilized over time. We also have become more sensitive to the lives and feelings of others.
Pinker is a wizard of making the difficult so easy to undersand. He not only alludes to the classics, The Bible, and academic studies, but also to pop culture. He frequently uses scenes from popular movies, TV shows, books and songs to make his point.
The reading is superb. It is neither dull nor overly dramatic. Within minutes I forgot that there was a reader and my mind was focused in on Steven Pinker's mind.
I would also highly recommend Pinker's previous tour-de-force, The Blank Slate.
86 people found this helpful
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- K. Cunningham
- 2012-09-21
The Greatest Thinkers of our Generation
I have read this rather long book twice now. I think I'll read it again soon. I hope you will, too (and I hope you = everyone).
The idea that we are living in the most peaceful, least murderous time in the history of the planet is an oddly uncomfortable one for many. First, it just doesn't feel that way. We hear about and see on TV and the internet a seemingly endless stream of stories about mass killings, senseless acts of cruelty, war and even genocide. Also, if we say now is better than ever, then maybe people will stop working to make the world yet less violent.
And for those of us in our middle years, we can readily look back and say that, Yes, things were simpler then. We left our doors unlocked. Kids played outside, etc.
The thing is, it doesn't really take all that much more thinking to notice that not that long ago even in this country women and African Americans were not allowed to vote. Not long ago, we had segregation, lynchings, race riots, assassinations of our leaders, a long a protracted war in Southeast Asia, which followed not long after a protracted (Undeclared) war in Korea, which came very shortly after the nuclear bombing of Japan, which essentially ended the worst global war ever, which some historians consider to have been simply part two of the other worst global war ever. And as one goes back in time, the wars, genocides, ethnic cleansings, etc., keep piling on.
The massive tyrants responsible for the annihilation of tens, maybe hundreds of millions of people in the beginning and middle of the 20th century are long gone. There hasn't been conflict among the world's super powers since the bombs fell on Japan.
On a scale much closer to home, Pinker talks at length about the change in the moral zeitgeist such that treating wives and children as property is outlaw throughout a much greater part of the globe today than just 30 years ago. Spanking children could land you in jail. Spanking your dog can now land you in jail in some places! Foods and cosmetics are often "cruelty" free, where the idea was unheard of not long ago.
Pinker does a brilliant and thorough (800+ pages worth) job of laying out all the statistics to support his case that violence has actually declined. More importantly, he adduces a long list of forces that have contributed to that decline. It's a big book, and it's not possible to summarize it in a few paragraphs. However, it might suffice to say that the forces Pinker adduces are pretty well supported in their various academic disciplines (anthropology, sociology, psychology).
Among the most interesting forces thought to be at work civilizing the world is commerce. This is one that ruffles some feathers a bit, but the argument is essentially this. When you look at the data, what appears to be the case is that countries that trade with each other don't tend to kill each other. Pinker uses a line from writer Robert Wright, who said (paraphrasing), "The reason I don't want to kill the Japanese is that they make my minivan." The line is intended to be ironic, of course, but the point stands. When our economic lives are intertwined, we find ways to resolve disputes peaceably. How likely is it that France and Spain would go to war today over disputed territory in the Alps? Moreover, by this stage in world history, we (powerful countries) have figured out that overtaking and subjugating nations by force is more expensive than trading with them and imposing economic and policy-based restrictions. One may object to neo-liberalism, but it can hardly be more objectionable than its predecessor strategy, conquest and empire. This part of the book and argument is long and involved and fascinating.
Another strong force in the civilizing of the globe involves media and its globalizing effects. Again, we may not like what we see in our media outlets every day, but the fact that people nearly everywhere know a lot about people nearly everywhere else on earth helps reduce violence. The reason it does is that the more we know about other people, the more we can put ourselves in their shoes, the less likely we are to kill them. We can relate a little more. We don't de-humanize them as much. This isn't to say that racism, culturism, etc, has or ever will go away. We are a tribal species. But, data show that as people in general are more and more able to reason abstractly about the world, and to think about what it is like to be someone other than who they are, the less violent they are. This type of reasoning leads to more understanding and less killing. There are plenty of exceptions to this, and this isn't to say that neighboring countries or ethnic groups within countries don't still kill each other. They certainly do (but moreso when infused with lots of religious fervor). But, in general, the trend is away from killing.
A final point. PInker cites a good deal of data and some theorizing to suggest that even the 21st century terrorism plague is already fading away. The reason: it doesn't work. In the big picture, terrorists never succeed in accomplishing what they wanted to accomplish via their terrorism. Ireland is not united. Basque country is not independent. Israel is still Israel.
To continue to make things better, it is critical that we know what has worked in the past. Many strategies and natural trends have contributed to making the world a safer place today. The Better Angels lays out in detail what has been working. It is well worth knowing what they are. It is also helpful to feel just a bit better about who we are as a species today.
98 people found this helpful
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- Sean
- 2011-10-23
One of my top 5 favorite books
This is one of those rare books that does more than inform or amuse: it actually has the potential to influence for a lifetime. It is even more rare in that it does this from an entirely positive angle. And though it does occasionally dip into contemporary politics, it does so in a detached and enlightened enough manner so as not to destroy its timelessness. The author does a great job of extolling the good ideas and skewering the bad ones from all ages, including our own, and instilling a sense of awe in the face of enormous human progress.
48 people found this helpful
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- Phineas
- 2011-10-27
A Thorough Study and an Enjoyable Listen
Arthur Morey does an excellent job with the narration. I found his voice engaging during the entirety of the almost 37 hours of this audiobook.
As one would hope for a book this lengthy, Steven Pinker doesn't waste your time. After a brief introduction, the book takes off into a systematic and thoroughgoing analysis of just about all the data one could ask for on this topic. He gives the numbers, the studies, etc. and explains them at every step of the way. He goes into quite a bit of history, biology, neuroscience, politics, law, and several other subjects relevant to the topic which were a pleasure to learn about for their own sake. I found that Pinker even anticipated nearly every question I had, usually only a few sentences after it popped into my mind. I don't think one could ask for a better book the subject.
Steven Pinker writes near the end of the book, "...and I hope that the numbers I have marshaled have lifted your assessment of the state of the world from the lugubrious conventional wisdom." I can say that this has been the effect on me.
31 people found this helpful
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- Theodore
- 2012-06-30
Excellent Book All Over
I was quite pleased with this entire title. It proposes a very interesting point and attacks it head on. The way that it was brought across by the narrator was very pleasing to the ears. Overall a very nice production with some excellent points overall.
The argument that Violence has declined over time is one that I personally thought was a given if one were to think of it. Being a fan of Renaissance History it appeared to me that violence had declined. The author though uses this as well as a number of other points to brings across his point as to why this is so, using other factors such as religion, standard of living, etc. to provide insight on this fact.
The book has A LOT of information (useful information mind you) but it is a lot of information to process and I think this plays up it having a lot of replay value.
29 people found this helpful
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- Walter
- 2012-05-13
My Pick for Best Book in a Few Years
I try to pick a personal book of the year about once a year and a personal book of the decade about every 10 years. But I also have some in between category of books that are better than the book of the year, but not as good as the book of the decade. “Better Angles” is in this category.
In the last 5 or 6 years there seems to be a growing awareness that violence has declined significantly in parts of the U.S. since the ‘70s. This awareness may be in part due to other popular books that have pointed this out, like Freakonomics. However, this book shows that the decline in violence is global and part of a very long term trend. The details are varied, but the pattern is remarkably consistent. And the affect is not small. For example 500 years ago violence in the more civilized parts of Western Europe was 30 times higher than in the U.S. today.
The first “third” of the book contains copious detail designed to convince you that in spite of rare exceptions the trend toward less violence is significant. The middle “third” of the book reviews what science can (and can’t) tell us about the causes of violence. The last “third” tries to construct a theory that explains the reason for the actual decline in violence.
So what is his conclusion? In a word “enlightenment”. I found the argument compelling. But even more interestingly the result is an unexpected defense of education, learning, refinement, and bourgeoisie values. He clearly thinks enlightenment is at odds with modern leftist (or right wing) politics; and uses the phrase “classical liberalism”.
Three cautions: The author is a statistical researcher or a number cruncher. The math is all almost trivial, but numeracy is the core of the argument and is the bulk of the book. The book is irreverent. I found it charmingly so. But other may find it borderline belligerent. Finally, it is a long and detailed, to the point of pushing the audible format.
41 people found this helpful
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- Randall D. Raymond
- 2011-11-12
One of the Most Surprising Books I've Read
I just loved this book. I get so tired of hearing people say how bad things have gotten, and how much more violent we are than our wonderful peaceful ancestors. Pinker puts the lie to that idea and backs up his personal observations with extensive documentation. I appreciate that Pinker is trying to make a point here and may have omitted some evidence that didn't back up his claims, so I'd like to read a detailed refutation of his central tenet. The only objection I have to this book is that it is, in my opinion, somewhat longer than it needed to be, as he makes some points over and over again.
24 people found this helpful
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- Charles
- 2012-01-10
An emotional lift
It is sometimes hard to have hope for the future. I hear about new and horrible websites, terrible atrocities, lives of crime, heartbreak, death and despair. It is easy for me to slip into a malaise thinking that there is nothing to keep the world from going to hell. This book gave me an emotional lift. It's strange because the author doesn't play to pathos; the arguments are detached and analytic. Nor does he suggest any mystical or supernatural intervention guiding the process. People have good reasons to be tolerant and peaceful, if not straight up kind. Instead of hoping inspite of the world, I now feel that there are good reasons to hope for and with it.
15 people found this helpful
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- JD
- 2019-06-16
Bien mais long
La thèse est très bien posée et argumentée. Cela permet d'avoir un regard réaliste sur le monde actuel. La fin est néanmoins assez redondante.