Enlightenment Now

Why it’s on the list: Steven Pinker’s seventy-five charts arguing that life, health, wealth, safety, literacy and happiness have improved, and that the Enlightenment values behind the improvement need defending — the standard reference for the progress case, and therefore the standard target.

Where I heard about it

• Spotted at City Lights Booksellers, San Francisco — June 2018 (Books photo album)

• Spotted at Barnes & Noble, American Fork — November 2024 (Books photo album)

• Replies to @SpencrGreenberg — named in the replies to his question “What non-fiction book taught you the most about how the world (or how humanity or society) really works?”, June 2025. Full list: A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet).

• Li Lu — on Li Lu’s Recommended Book List, under Science, Philosophy, Evolution, History of Human Civilization, Human History.

Connections

• A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
• Steven Pinker — the author.
• Progress · Enlightenment — the argument.