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From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
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Start date
January 1, 2014
Finish date
January 31, 2014
Discussion
Book Club 2014

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What Members Thought

David Rubenstein
Feb 25, 2012 rated it it was amazing
In this book, Steven Pinker explores a very controversial thesis, that is, violence is declining. Different types of violence are declining on multiple time scales. It would seem like the twentieth century had some major wars and plenty of genocide to make his thesis sound rather foolish. But in the first seven chapters he shows lots and lots of statistics to back up his thesis. In the eighth and ninth chapters he also explores the scientific reasons for violence and the reasons for increasingly ...more
bup
Jan 31, 2021 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: audiobook, science, 2020
I know people advise taking Pinker with a grain of salt, and I'm not, to tell the truth, up on all the reasons he's not supposed to be paid attention to, but this book is amazing.

Pretend that the book is anonymous, and just critically examine the arguments and evidence presented.

This book cheered me up in Covid pandemic world. As the worse angels of America's nature got a lot of attention and traction, Pinker's examination of the long view shows that we are headed to a better place.

The twentieth
...more
Silvio
Mar 06, 2016 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Old times no better than today

Pinker review of past history reveals what you know if you remember some of your high school history: the past of human race has been more violent than today world. The message of the book is not about unrealistic optimism, it is just trying to figure out what things has push this decline in violence. However you need to read several times to be able to get convince that the wars of 20th century and genocides, during and after, are outliers however not as bad as the
...more
Timothy Finucane
Dec 29, 2011 rated it it was amazing

Life is getting less violent. Really.


The first portion of the book deals primarily with the statistics and evidence that shows how violence has declined in the course of recorded human history; and the facts do show a dramatic decline of violence over the centuries. While reviewing the statistical numbers Mr Pinker also attempts to find reasons for the declining violence, looking at many different theories that have been proposed over the years.


The two chapters prior to the final summary/conclus

...more
Clay
Apr 16, 2012 rated it it was ok
Shelves: non-fiction
Steven Pinker spends the majority of the book trying to convince the reader that there has been an overall downward trend in violence. I was convinced of that fact, but, when he goes on to explain why violence has gone down, I feel like the book frayed. I am not saying that Pinker is wrong in his ideas, I just felt like the connection of cause and effect was tenuous at best. The problem is that our societal system is so complex that I feel like a lot of these conclusions fall into the realm of c ...more
Velvetink
Jun 13, 2013 marked it as to-read
e pub version -tuebl
Patricrk patrick
Mar 05, 2012 rated it liked it
Shelves: science
a slog to get through. Interesting. worth the time to read if you are interested in how society ticks.
AER
Oct 01, 2011 marked it as to-read
John J.
Nov 16, 2011 marked it as to-read
CK
Dec 27, 2011 marked it as to-read
Shelves: library-digi
Oni
Aug 22, 2012 marked it as to-read
Robert
Dec 28, 2012 marked it as waiting-on-the-bookshelf  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: on-loan
Hollyy
Jun 22, 2013 marked it as to-read
bup
Sep 06, 2013 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Anna
Nov 24, 2013 marked it as to-read
David S. T.
Dec 29, 2013 rated it liked it
Shelves: history, science
David
Jul 19, 2016 marked it as to-read
Shelves: next-to-read
Amanda
Jan 10, 2017 marked it as to-read
Shelves: pop-sci, history
Aaron
Jan 08, 2018 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Iski
Nov 05, 2018 marked it as to-read
Sterling
Oct 22, 2019 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Britt Aamodt
Nov 01, 2019 marked it as to-read
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