Enlightenment Now
The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
by Steven Pinker
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More Recommenders
“Enlightenment Now is such a truly brilliant book, elegantly written, sparkling with wit, driving nails hard home on every page, I can only conclude that the few carping, meanspirited negative reviewers are jealous. | Happy #WorldBookDay! Here are some books human rights and liberalism which I have enjoyed over the past few years | I am in the middle of listening to @sapinker’s ”Enlightenment Now”. Simply brilliant! A must for anyone trying to make sense of the world. Factual optimism. Glad motherinlaw is getting me the physical version of the book for Christmas. Will reread. | It is the most optimistic book I?ve read in a long time. | It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. | My new favorite book of all time.”
Source →“Enlightenment Now is such a truly brilliant book, elegantly written, sparkling with wit, driving nails hard home on every page, I can only conclude that the few carping, meanspirited negative reviewers are jealous. | Happy #WorldBookDay! Here are some books human rights and liberalism which I have enjoyed over the past few years | I am in the middle of listening to @sapinker’s ”Enlightenment Now”. Simply brilliant! A must for anyone trying to make sense of the world. Factual optimism. Glad motherinlaw is getting me the physical version of the book for Christmas. Will reread. | It is the most optimistic book I?ve read in a long time. | It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. | My new favorite book of all time.”
Source →“Enlightenment Now is such a truly brilliant book, elegantly written, sparkling with wit, driving nails hard home on every page, I can only conclude that the few carping, meanspirited negative reviewers are jealous. | Happy #WorldBookDay! Here are some books human rights and liberalism which I have enjoyed over the past few years | I am in the middle of listening to @sapinker’s ”Enlightenment Now”. Simply brilliant! A must for anyone trying to make sense of the world. Factual optimism. Glad motherinlaw is getting me the physical version of the book for Christmas. Will reread. | It is the most optimistic book I?ve read in a long time. | It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. | My new favorite book of all time.”
Source →“Enlightenment Now is such a truly brilliant book, elegantly written, sparkling with wit, driving nails hard home on every page, I can only conclude that the few carping, meanspirited negative reviewers are jealous. | Happy #WorldBookDay! Here are some books human rights and liberalism which I have enjoyed over the past few years | I am in the middle of listening to @sapinker’s ”Enlightenment Now”. Simply brilliant! A must for anyone trying to make sense of the world. Factual optimism. Glad motherinlaw is getting me the physical version of the book for Christmas. Will reread. | It is the most optimistic book I?ve read in a long time. | It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. | My new favorite book of all time.”
Source →“Enlightenment Now is such a truly brilliant book, elegantly written, sparkling with wit, driving nails hard home on every page, I can only conclude that the few carping, meanspirited negative reviewers are jealous. | Happy #WorldBookDay! Here are some books human rights and liberalism which I have enjoyed over the past few years | I am in the middle of listening to @sapinker’s ”Enlightenment Now”. Simply brilliant! A must for anyone trying to make sense of the world. Factual optimism. Glad motherinlaw is getting me the physical version of the book for Christmas. Will reread. | It is the most optimistic book I?ve read in a long time. | It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. | My new favorite book of all time.”
Source →“Enlightenment Now is such a truly brilliant book, elegantly written, sparkling with wit, driving nails hard home on every page, I can only conclude that the few carping, meanspirited negative reviewers are jealous. | Happy #WorldBookDay! Here are some books human rights and liberalism which I have enjoyed over the past few years | I am in the middle of listening to @sapinker’s ”Enlightenment Now”. Simply brilliant! A must for anyone trying to make sense of the world. Factual optimism. Glad motherinlaw is getting me the physical version of the book for Christmas. Will reread. | It is the most optimistic book I?ve read in a long time. | It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. | My new favorite book of all time.”
Source →“Enlightenment Now is such a truly brilliant book, elegantly written, sparkling with wit, driving nails hard home on every page, I can only conclude that the few carping, meanspirited negative reviewers are jealous. | Happy #WorldBookDay! Here are some books human rights and liberalism which I have enjoyed over the past few years | I am in the middle of listening to @sapinker’s ”Enlightenment Now”. Simply brilliant! A must for anyone trying to make sense of the world. Factual optimism. Glad motherinlaw is getting me the physical version of the book for Christmas. Will reread. | It is the most optimistic book I?ve read in a long time. | It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. | My new favorite book of all time.”
Source →“Enlightenment Now is such a truly brilliant book, elegantly written, sparkling with wit, driving nails hard home on every page, I can only conclude that the few carping, meanspirited negative reviewers are jealous. | Happy #WorldBookDay! Here are some books human rights and liberalism which I have enjoyed over the past few years | I am in the middle of listening to @sapinker’s ”Enlightenment Now”. Simply brilliant! A must for anyone trying to make sense of the world. Factual optimism. Glad motherinlaw is getting me the physical version of the book for Christmas. Will reread. | It is the most optimistic book I?ve read in a long time. | It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. | My new favorite book of all time.”
Source →“Enlightenment Now is such a truly brilliant book, elegantly written, sparkling with wit, driving nails hard home on every page, I can only conclude that the few carping, meanspirited negative reviewers are jealous. | Happy #WorldBookDay! Here are some books human rights and liberalism which I have enjoyed over the past few years | I am in the middle of listening to @sapinker’s ”Enlightenment Now”. Simply brilliant! A must for anyone trying to make sense of the world. Factual optimism. Glad motherinlaw is getting me the physical version of the book for Christmas. Will reread. | It is the most optimistic book I?ve read in a long time. | It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. | My new favorite book of all time.”
Source →“Enlightenment Now is such a truly brilliant book, elegantly written, sparkling with wit, driving nails hard home on every page, I can only conclude that the few carping, meanspirited negative reviewers are jealous. | Happy #WorldBookDay! Here are some books human rights and liberalism which I have enjoyed over the past few years | I am in the middle of listening to @sapinker’s ”Enlightenment Now”. Simply brilliant! A must for anyone trying to make sense of the world. Factual optimism. Glad motherinlaw is getting me the physical version of the book for Christmas. Will reread. | It is the most optimistic book I?ve read in a long time. | It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. | My new favorite book of all time.”
Source →Recommended by 12 notable people, including Bill Gates and Jordan Peterson
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Reading Profile
Should I read this?
Reading feels like sitting through a TED talk with endless slides: each chapter serves up a dataset on declining violence, rising wealth, spreading education. The book shines as a reference for the facts behind the 'good news' narrative. But the monotone optimism wears thin; Pinker rarely stops to acknowledge that the same data can be read as evidence of persistent inequality. The argument gets preachy, and if you need nuance, you'll find the brush too broad. It's a heady dose of progress boosterism that makes its case at full volume, but the cheerful tone clashes with the gravity some readers will feel about real-world problems.
Read this if...
- •A policy analyst tired of hearing that everything is getting worse, needing ammunition for a briefing that long-term trends are positive.
- •A high school history teacher designing a unit on modernity who wants to show students that progress is measurable, not just ideological.
- •A tech entrepreneur feeling cynical about global politics who seeks a rationalist antidote to the daily news cycle.
Skip this if...
- •If you believe systemic injustices outweigh aggregate trends, you'll likely put the book down when Pinker brushes aside inequality as a secondary concern.
- •You'll lose patience if you prefer narrative storytelling over a barrage of graphs and summary statistics, as the book reads more like a scientific report than a human account.
- •Annoying if you find progress narratives tone-deaf, as the book often equates data trends with moral satisfaction, leaving little room for grief or anger at current suffering.
A New York Times Bestselling AuthorIs the world falling apart? Is progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and follow the data. In seventy-five jaw-dropping graphs, Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise worldwide. Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment has worked.
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Audience Fit
- A policy analyst tired of hearing that everything is getting worse, needing ammunition for a briefing that long-term trends are positive.
- A high school history teacher designing a unit on modernity who wants to show students that progress is measurable, not just ideological.
- A tech entrepreneur feeling cynical about global politics who seeks a rationalist antidote to the daily news cycle.
- If you believe systemic injustices outweigh aggregate trends, you'll likely put the book down when Pinker brushes aside inequality as a secondary concern.
- You'll lose patience if you prefer narrative storytelling over a barrage of graphs and summary statistics, as the book reads more like a scientific report than a human account.
- Annoying if you find progress narratives tone-deaf, as the book often equates data trends with moral satisfaction, leaving little room for grief or anger at current suffering.
Check formats, pricing, and availability options for Kindle, physical print, or audiobooks directly.
View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
Recommended by 22 sources and appears in Books Recommended by Bill Gates, Books Recommended by Writers, and Books Recommended by Founders.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
David Deutsch
“Enlightenment Now is such a truly brilliant book, elegantly written, sparkling with wit, driving nails hard home on every page, I can only conclude that the few carping, meanspirited negative reviewers are jealous. | Happy #WorldBookDay! Here are some books human rights and liberalism which I have enjoyed over the past few years | I am in the middle of listening to @sapinker’s ”Enlightenment Now”. Simply brilliant! A must for anyone trying to make sense of the world. Factual optimism. Glad motherinlaw is getting me the physical version of the book for Christmas. Will reread. | It is the most optimistic book I?ve read in a long time. | It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. | My new favorite book of all time.”
Appears In
Most Recommended Books
Curated5676 books
Books Recommended by Bill Gates
Category75 books
Books Recommended by Writers
Category75 books
Books Recommended by Founders
Category75 books
Books Recommended by Billionaires
Category75 books
Politics
Category564 books
Philosophy
Category730 books
Psychology
Category965 books
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. Recommended by 8 sources.
“Soft-spoken, heavily illustrated fable built from short dialogues and watercolor sketches. Each spread pairs a spare line of text with a loose drawing, so the pleasure is visual and aphoristic rather than narrative; readers collect felt-true sentences more than plot. Most useful when you want quick consolations, a prompt for conversation with a child, or a pause during a rough day. Limiting if you want sustained argument, concrete advice, or tightly plotted storytelling: the repetition of gentleness can feel sentimental or thin after a while.”
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Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.