Through the lens of Pinkerâ€™s optimistic philosophy, Enlightenment Now expands on his seminal book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and creates a cohesive overview of the liberal Enlightenment values that are currently under attack from both extremes of the political spectrum. Itâ€™s a sort of balm from the recent surge in authoritarian populism and the general hopelessness that stems from it. In an age of increasingly pessimistic and bleak world views, Steven Pinkerâ€™s new book, Enlightenment Now, couldnâ€™t come at a better time.

We will never have a perfect world, but - defying the chorus of fatalism and reaction - we can continue to make it a better one.Robert Rosenkranzâ€™sÂ Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

In making the case for an Enlightenment newly recharged for the 21st century, Pinker shows how we can use our faculties of reason and sympathy to solve the problems that inevitably come with being products of evolution in an indifferent universe. But the way to deal with them is not to sink into despair or try to lurch back to a mythical idyllic past it's to treat them as problems we can solve, as we have solved other problems in the past. The challenges we face today are formidable, including inequality, climate change, Artificial Intelligence and nuclear weapons. These are the values of the Enlightenment: of reason, science, humanism and progress. Such progress is no accident: it's the gift of a coherent and inspiring value system that many of us embrace without even realizing it.

If you follow the trendlines rather than the headlines, you discover that our lives have become longer, healthier, safer, happier, more peaceful, more stimulating and more prosperous - not just in the West, but worldwide. Yet Steven Pinker shows that this is an illusion - a symptom of historical amnesia and statistical fallacies. THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Bristles with pure, crystalline intelligence, deep knowledge and human sympathy' Richard Dawkins Is modernity really failing? Or have we failed to appreciate progress and the ideals that make it possible? If you follow the headlines, the world in the 21st century appears to be sinking into chaos, hatred, and irrationality.

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