I have read this book slowly and carefully over a long period of time. I give it an unreservedly positive review.

Warning: I am only an "expert" in a tiny area of what the book covers, and a layman in most of the rest.

I will discuss two things that I liked most about the book: the way in which it is written (both large scale organization and specific wording), and the ambitious scope in pursuing this material.

Vis-a-vis how the book is written:

Pinker is a persuasive writer who marshals his arguments well, presents a variety of points of view on each topic, and is clear enough that I was never confused about who is making what point, nor was I confused about the overall logic and Pinker's conclusion. He also points out carefully where the "established research" ends and his opinion begins.

He also makes the story lively with interesting (but never confusing) ways of turning phrases, and with cultural references both to icons of his own time (Bob Dylan, Woody Allen) and to great thinkers of the past. With his references he sometimes renders the mood of the times he is discussing, as when he inserts Mr. Jones into a discussion of what people were trying to understand in the 1960s. Other times he illustrates an idea from a research result by quoting a Woody Allen passage about sex, or a St. Augustine passage about temptation.

The use of language is rather full, as is the assumption about a "framework knowledge" of political and intellectual history. When something more specialized is required he explains it, often very well. I was particularly impressed by how he explained poisson statistics and power law distributions when discussing the statistics of war. The explanation was accessible to someone who has never studied those concepts in a math or science class.

The result is an enjoyable read and deeply instructive about many subjects, even beyond the main topic of the book.


Vis-a-vis the ambitious scope in pursuing this material:

What struck me the most about this book is that Pinker is not at all lazy. He never cuts corners in how he explores material. If a certain argument needs to be made with some knowledge of statistical distributions, he will introduce all of material and then make the argument. When he turns from a more historical arena to a psychological one he introduces the relevant psychology and brain-physiology knowledge. I never got the impression that I was supposed to take any aspect of the argument on faith.

Another part of the "no laziness" is that he consistently offers up a variety of arguments on each topic. I never got the impression that he presented his favorite argument and then one devil's advocate argument pro-forma. I felt like I was always given the full picture of the debate surrounding any topic. Sometimes a debate is inconclusive, or the "pretty" explanations don't capture the full complexity, and in those cases he rolls up his sleeves and says "with no single explanation we will need to examine how several separate factors contribute to this phenomenon" - one example is the increase in violence in North America from the 1960s to the early 1990s.

I also found interesting and important the way he brings in the intellectual aspects of history. Cesare Beccaria and Immanuel Kant and many other thinkers are shown to have had a big impact on the development of ideas. He taps into other philosophers, such as Thomas Hobbes, to show the origin of crucial insights in how aspects of societies evolve. He presents a convincing picture that the maturation of ideas is an important part of history, specifically how people and governments decide to wage war and to allow or disallow violence.

Pinker also discusses the development of taboos in societies, returning to it when he discusses individual psychological factors.

THe "no laziness" I observed was inspiring, reminding me of some of my scientific collaborators (not all of them, sadly) who truly complete projects rather than getting a "minimum publishable unit".

I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the topic (the history of violence, both warfare and crime). If you feel that you do not have some of the background to read it comfortably, you might look at some books I have discussed on goodreads - accessible history books:

[b:The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-first Century|191280|The Way of the World From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-first Century|David Fromkin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403175071s/191280.jpg|184943]

[b:Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind|23692271|Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind|Yuval Noah Harari|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420585954s/23692271.jpg|18962767]

* [b:A History of Western Philosophy|243685|A History of Western Philosophy|Bertrand Russell|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344399003s/243685.jpg|1167354]