The Better Angels of Our Nature

A Mark Zuckerberg Year of Books Pick My favorite book of the last decade is [Steven] Pinker's <i>Better Angels of Our Nature</i>. It is a long but profound look at the reduction in violence and discrimination over time. --Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft For anyone interested in human nature, the material is engrossing, and when the going gets heavy, Pinker knows how to lighten it with ironic comments and a touch of humor. . . . A supremely important book. To have command of so much research, spread across so many different fields, is a masterly achievement. --The New York Times Book Review An extraordinary range of research . . . a masterly effort. --<i><b>The Wall Street Journal</b></i> <i>Better Angels</i> is a monumental achievement. His book should make it much harder for pessimists to cling to their gloomy vision of the future. Whether war is an ancient adaptation or a pernicious cultural infection, we are learning how to overcome it. --<i><b>Slate</b></i> Praise for THE STUFF OF THOUGHT The majesty of Pinker's theories is only one side of the story. The other side is the modesty of how he built them. It all makes sense, when you look at it the right way. <b>--<i> </i>The New York Times Book Review</b></p> Packed with information, clear, witty, attractively written. --<i><b>The New York Review of Books</b></i> Engaging and witty ...Everyone with an interest in language and how it gets to be how it is--that is, everyone interested in how we get to be human and do our human business--should read THE STUFF OF THOUGHT. -- <b>Science</b></p>Praise for THE BLANK SLATE An extremely good book--clear, well argued, fair, learned, tough, witty, humane, stimulating. --<b>Colin McGinn, <i>The Washington Post</i></b> Sweeping, erudite, sharply argued, and fun to read...also highly persuasive. --<i><b>Time</b></i></p>