Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress [Paperback] [Feb 12, 2018] Steven Pinker

My new favourite book of all time (Bill Gates)

Exhilarating, magnificent, uplifting (Economist)

This is the biggest story of our time. It's about the many ways in which the world is improving, and why we don't believe it (Fraser Nelson Spectator)

Pinker is right. Not just a bit right, but completely, utterly, incontrovertibly right ... for most people, life is better, even if they don't realise it (Dominic Sandbrook Daily Mail)

Awesome. The confidence with which Pinker tears through the issues that cause such deep anxiety today is compelling (William Davies Guardian)

A characteristically fluent, decisive and data-rich demonstration of why, given the chance to live at any point in human history, only a stone-cold idiot would choose any time other than the present (Sam Leith Spectator)

A new, optimistic view of the world ... Things are not as bad as your Facebook news feed makes them seem ... a cheerful, contrarian tract for dark times (Niall Ferguson Sunday Times)

A goldmine of startling graphs and killer facts about the way we live now. Everyone should read this book and, just for once, be enthralled by what humankind has achieved (Iain Macwhirter Herald)

Brimming with surprising data and entertaining anecdotes ... a genuinely enlightening book (Jan-Werner Müller Financial Times)

Today we are living healthier, wealthier lives - and it's thanks to the values of the Enlightenment ... a passionate book in praise of Enlightenment values (David Aaronovitch The Times)