The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined - Softcover

"If I could give each of you a graduation present, it would be this--the most inspiring book I've ever read."
--Bill Gates (May, 2017)

A Mark Zuckerberg "Year of Books" Pick

"My favorite book of the last decade is [Steven] Pinker's Better Angels of Our Nature. 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."--The Wall Street Journal

"Better Angels 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."--Slate

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."-- The New York Times Book Review

"Packed with information, clear, witty, attractively written."--The New York Review of Books

"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."-- Science

Praise for THE BLANK SLATE

"An extremely good book--clear, well argued, fair, learned, tough, witty, humane, stimulating."--Colin McGinn, The Washington Post

"Sweeping, erudite, sharply argued, and fun to read...also highly persuasive."--Time

A controversial history of violence by the best-selling author of The Stuff of Thought argues that today's world is the most peaceful time in human existence, drawing on provocative psychological insights into intrinsic values that are causing people to condemn violence as an acceptable measure. Reprint. 100,000 first printing.