BOOK · [2354]
The Better Angels of Our Nature
History
Pinker marshals 700 pages of data to argue violence has declined dramatically across human history. A favorite of techno-optimists who want to believe the long arc bends toward progress.
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4 People-
Second A Year of Books pick, announced January 18, 2015. Zuckerberg said it presents a timely argument about why violence has declined.
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Listed on Stewart Brand's Manual for Civilization book list.
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Recommended on Gates Notes.
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“This was really really good, as in, maybe the best book I've read that year.”
Five-star (★★★★★) review on Gwern's book-review archive.
Criticized By
1 PERSON-
In 'The Long Peace is a Statistical Illusion' (with Pasquale Cirillo), Taleb argues against the book's central thesis that violence has structurally declined, contending war casualties follow a fat-tailed distribution where long quiet periods are statistically expected and say nothing about a real decline.
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