Human Kind by Rutger Bregman

[lazylinguist]

Wondering if anyone else has read this. I've just finished it and thought it was amazing! For anyone who hasn't heard of it, it's by a youngish Dutch historian and it's making a very convincing case challenging the common view (especially amongst leaders and media) that humans beings are essentially selfish, cruel, lazy, violent etc. Lots of fascinating real life stories, debunking of flawed psychological experiments etc. And an easy read too. A real bit of inspiration and hope in these 'troubled times'!

Oh, I have just started this after listening to some podcasts with him on, he is my new Hero!! Its great so far!

Just finished this, it was excellent. Very well written and really interesting, I had heard of some of the experiments before but thought he had a really fresh take on lots of topics. Cheers you up :)

Oh good, thought it was just me! I was astonished by, among other things, the statistics about what a surprisingly small proportion of soldiers in front line combat actually shoot people, because it really does go against most people's nature to kill another human being, inspite of their training.

My BIL got me this for Christmas and it’s ended up on my to read pile despite giving it a fair go over Christmas. I loved what I did read and the whole premise.

Yes! I had no idea. Sort of thought army training instilled that you would shoot, didn't really understand that wouldn't necessarily be the case.

It definitely wasn't a book I could zip through, and I am a fast reader - read it on my Kindle and didn't realise 1/4 was the notes etc!

I found the differences between nomadic society and settled societies so interesting.