{"product_id":"enlightenment-now-the-case-for-reason-science-humanism-and-progress-9780525529774","title":"Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason  Science  Humanism  and Progress","description":"\u003cp\u003eINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER  \"My new favorite book of all time.\" --Bill Gates  If you think the world is coming to an end  think again: people are living longer  healthier  freer  and happier lives  and while our problems are formidable  the solutions lie in the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and science.  Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium  cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom  which play to our psychological biases. Instead  follow the data: In seventy-five jaw-dropping graphs  Pinker shows that life  health  prosperity  safety  peace  knowledge  and happiness are on the rise  not just in the West  but worldwide. This progress is not the result of some cosmic force. It is a gift of the Enlightenment: the conviction that reason and science can enhance human flourishing.  Far from being a nave hope  the Enlightenment  we now know  has worked. But more than ever  it needs a vigorous defense. The Enlightenment project swims against currents of human nature--tribalism  authoritarianism  demonization  magical thinking--which demagogues are all too willing to exploit. Many commentators  committed to political  religious  or romantic ideologies  fight a rearguard action against it. The result is a corrosive fatalism and a willingness to wreck the precious institutions of liberal democracy and global cooperation.  With intellectual depth and literary flair  Enlightenment Now makes the case for reason  science  and humanism: the ideals we need to confront our problems and continue our progress.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45960438677557,"sku":"ByrdShop_0525529772","price":55.84,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780525529774.jpg?v=1788287094","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/enlightenment-now-the-case-for-reason-science-humanism-and-progress-9780525529774","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}