Book · 2012 · Political Science
The Better Angels of Our Nature
Why Violence Has Declined
#50 of 13,592 books, ranked by how many different people bring it up on podcasts
- mentions
- 38
- people
- 25
- podcasts
- 16
- episodes
- 31
- critical mentions
- 0
He wrote this truly landmark book on the decline of violence in the last century that The Better Angels of Our Nature came out a few years ago.
Sam Harris · The Joe Rogan Experience · Apr 2015 Listen at 1:06:52 What they say about it
- Argues violence has decreased“violence has greatly decreased over time”4
- Preceded Enlightenment Now“preceded Enlightenment Now”2
The best things said about it
One of my favorite recent books is called The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker.
I think a great example comes from another one of your books called The Better Angels of Our Nature, which argues that violence has greatly decreased over time.
I mean that better angels of our nature is one of I think the most subversive books of our time.
The whole concept that civilization and the act of civilizing has dramatically reduced violence.
Lex Fridman Lex Fridman Podcast · Nov 2020 In his book The Better Angels of Our Nature, he studied the likelihood of you dying before maturity, or dying before adulthood.
Neil deGrasse Tyson StarTalk Radio · Oct 2019 That book Better Angels blew my mind.
Where and when it comes up
Mentions per year
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How it comes up
25 people who brought it up
- Lex Fridman2 mentions · 1 rec
Bill Gates1 mention · 1 rec- Jack Kornfield1 mention · 1 rec
- Sam Harris1 mention · 1 rec
Tim Ferriss1 mention · 1 rec- William von Hippel1 mention · 1 rec
Joe Rogan5 mentions- Steve Levitt4 mentions
- Neil deGrasse Tyson2 mentions
- Penn Jillette2 mentions
Ryan Holiday2 mentions
Tyler Cowen2 mentions
Why people recommend it
The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker is a comprehensive historical study arguing that violence has steadily declined over the course of human history. Bill Gates recommended the book on On Purpose with Jay Shetty, noting that it is the volume he has gifted most frequently to help people understand historical progress. Jack Kornfield praised the book on The Tim Ferriss Show, highlighting Pinker's background as a Harvard anthropologist and historian, while Tim Ferriss and Lex Fridman have also recommended the work. William von Hippel discussed the book with Joe Rogan to explore the societal structures required to make the world safer and less violent, and Sam Harris similarly referenced the landmark research on the decline of violence during an appearance on the same show. Neil deGrasse Tyson mentioned the book on StarTalk Radio while discussing common knowledge, and Joe Rogan brought up Pinker's data-driven findings on The Past Weekend w/ Theo Von to counter the common misconception that crime and violence are worse today than ever before. Across multiple podcasts, speakers emphasized the book's data-heavy optimism regarding human civilization.
Every mention
Lex Fridman the Steven Pinker written a great book that conflict all over the world is decreasing in general 2
Discussed
“so you again i want to go back to pinker yeah and the better angels of our nature the whole concept that civilization and the act of civilizing has dramatically reduced violence dramatically”
Recommended
“the Steven Pinker written a great book that conflict all over the world is decreasing in general”
Bill Gates there's a Stephen Pinker book called better angel of our nature 1
Recommended
“there's a Stephen Pinker book called better angel of our nature”
Jack Kornfield one of my favorite recent books is called the better angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker and he's a remar… 1
Recommended
“one of my favorite recent books is called the better angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker and he's a remarkable Professor Harvard Anthropologist historian”
Sam Harris he wrote This truly Landmark book on the decline of violence in the last century that the better angels of… 1
Recommended
“he wrote This truly Landmark book on the decline of violence in the last century that the better angels of our nature came out a few years ago it was like 800 pages on this topic”
Tim Ferriss the better angels of our nature by Steven Pinker 1
Recommended
“the better angels of our nature by Steven Pinker”
William von Hippel and I actually I think Pinker's got the best answer to this question which is basically well what structure… 1
Recommended
“and I actually I think Pinker's got the best answer to this question which is basically well what structures do you need to put in place to make the world a safer and less violent place and and I don't know if you've talked to him about his book better angels of our nature I know you've talked to him”
Joe Rogan that's like Stephen pinker's work if you follow his work on violence and crime people always want to think… 5
Discussed
“that's like Stephen pinker's work if you follow his work on violence and crime people always want to think that violence and crime is more now than ever before”
Discussed
“and dude there's a crazy there's a crazy book on this stephen pinker wrote this book called the better angels of our nature and what he does is he tracks over time kind of the nature of violence in humanity”
Discussed
“If you look at Pinker's work on violence over time, you see that societies were trending in a very positive direction, at least until 2020. This one change, just because it was one year, but that one year was just three years ago.”
Discussed
“I don't know if you've talked to him about his book better angels of our nature I know you've talked to him about more recent ones”
Discussed
“people like Stephen Pinker would argue that that it's becoming easier to identify with other people's suffering because we identify with a lot of aspects of how they live their lives”
Steve Levitt I think a great example comes from another one of your books called the better angels of our nature which a… 4
Discussed
“I think a great example comes from another one of your books called the better angels of our nature which argues that violence has greatly decreased over time and that doesn't strike me as being a very funny topic”
Discussed
“I think a great example comes from another one of your books called 'The Better Angels of Our Nature,' which argues that violence has greatly decreased over time, and that doesn't strike me as being a very funny topic. But your synopsis of the Old Testament in that book made me laugh so hard that I could barely breathe.”
Discussed
“I believe, yeah, there's no doubt, and my colleague Steve Pinker has now written several books convincingly arguing, at least convincingly, I think, that on most parameters, the world is getting better.”
Discussed
“And I think a great example comes from another one of your books called The Better Angels of Our Nature, which argues that violence has greatly decreased over time. And that doesn't strike me as being a very funny topic.”
Neil deGrasse Tyson The Better Angels of Our Nature. Oh my gosh. It has the two words common knowledge in the title. 2
Discussed
“The Better Angels of Our Nature. Oh my gosh. It has the two words common knowledge in the title.”
Discussed
“So, if we follow the reasoning by Steven Pinker in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature, he studied the likelihood of you dying before maturity, or dying before adulthood, which is dying, at the hands of another human from early days of tribal warfare to modern days of state-sanctioned global warfare.”
Penn Jillette I mean that better angels of our nature is one of I think the most subversive books of our time 2
Discussed
“I mean that better angels of our nature is one of I think the most subversive books of our time”
Discussed
“and that in that book better angels blew my mind is there's this line that's that that's been obsessing me with a cracker in teen angst”
Ryan Holiday the sort of twitter response to better angels was was was an odd one because you have this it's a beautiful… 2
Discussed
“if i remember the blank slate um and better better angels”
Discussed
“the sort of twitter response to better angels was was was an odd one because you have this it's a beautiful book”
Tyler Cowen Matt Ridley's book Rational Optimist, you know, Steve Pinker's points about the Better Angels of Our Nature. 2
Discussed
“Matt Ridley's book Rational Optimist, you know, Steve Pinker's points about the Better Angels of Our Nature.”
Discussed
“you're referring to his better angels of our nature book and your book on economic growth right”
Angela Duckworth better angels of our nature which I think preceded Enlightenment now right 1
Discussed
“better angels of our nature which I think preceded Enlightenment now right”
Bryan Callen according to the number of violent deaths from 2000 until 2015 according to Stephen picker Pinker and his v… 1
Discussed
“according to the number of violent deaths from 2000 until 2015 according to Stephen picker Pinker and his very well researched book called the angels of our better nature essentially said it proves and and makes the case that fewer people have died violently in that span of time”
Dave Rubin that book right there by Steven Pinker and light mr. right book is is all about how great things are 1
Discussed
“that book right there by Steven Pinker and light mr. right book is is all about how great things are”
Douglas Kenrick but you know particularly the one the better angels of nature where he Compares all of the known data on vi… 1
Discussed
“but you know particularly the one the better angels of nature where he Compares all of the known data on violence”
Jason Silva steven Pinker called better angels of our nature, he wrote a book called The Better angels of our nature is… 1
Discussed
“steven Pinker called better angels of our nature, he wrote a book called The Better angels of our nature is a tech talk called Ted Talk called the myth of violence and he actually went up there and explained that the chances of a man dying at the hands of another man today are the lowest, and they've ever been”
Jennifer Szalai you could see this book as a sequel to his 2011 book better the better angels of our nature which argued th… 1
Discussed
“you could see this book as a sequel to his 2011 book better the better angels of our nature which argued that the world because of Enlightenment values”
Jordan Harbinger and right writing books like enlightenment now or better better angels rationality are inherently occurring… 1
Discussed
“and right writing books like enlightenment now or better better angels rationality are inherently occurring and they're inherently encouraging”
Jordan Peterson one of the things so he thinks very much like two p thinks and he wrote the better angels of our nature if… 1
Discussed
“one of the things so he thinks very much like two p thinks and he wrote the better angels of our nature if i remember correctly as well showing that human aggression has decreased substantially over the last number of centuries”
Pieter Abbeel well if you look at Steven Pinker he highlights is pretty nicely in better better angels of our nature wher… 1
Discussed
“well if you look at Steven Pinker he highlights is pretty nicely in better better angels of our nature where he talks about violence decreasing over time consistently”
Robert Greene but I overcame my bias to some degree in order to include books by like Steven Pinker whom I hate like and… 1
Discussed
“but I overcame my bias to some degree in order to include books by like Steven Pinker whom I hate like and stand his books but I read them sort of forced myself like our better angels you know”
Sam Corcos Yeah, Better Angels of Our Nature. 1
Discussed
“Yeah, Better Angels of Our Nature.”
Steven Pinker in the better angels i talked about for example the the decline of tribal raiding and feuding and and then… 1
Discussed
“in the better angels i talked about for example the the decline of tribal raiding and feuding and and then blood feuds”
Thomas Sowell Pinker's book about about violence and you know that throughout what the Western world the homicide rates d… 1
Discussed
“Pinker's book about about violence and you know that throughout what the Western world the homicide rates did a u-turn in the 1960s”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker1
Discussed
“I'm familiar with the work; Better Angels of Our Nature, which I think preceded Enlightenment Now, right?”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (9: passing, ad reads, own books)
Own book
“and then in better angels of our nature uh a term of course that i stole from abraham lincoln but it fit the idea perfectly i showed that it's not just a theoretical possibility it's happened”
Passing
“In particular, The Better Angels of Our Nature and Enlightenment Now have instilled in me a sense of optimism grounded in data, science, and reason.”
Own book
“I read a book called the history of force self-published by a political scientist named James Payne on the historical decline of violence and that was one of the inspirations for the better angels of our nature”
Own book
“and of course that was what led to my more recent book the better angels of our nature”
Own book
“he wrote the foreword to the french translation of the better angels of our nature”
Own book
“i've documented the decline historical declines of violence”
Passing
“the book better angels of our nature will be available afterwards”
Own book
“in a process that I actually wrote about in terms of the uh quite spectacular declines in rates of violence he speculated might have been helped Along by a genetic change”
Own book
“that um that a lot of dimensions of human well-being when Quantified as I try to do in the better angs of our nature uh turn out to be going in a good direction”