#HUMANKIND REVIEW FULL#
Read Full Review >īregman sprints at a breakneck pace around history and science. But maybe he’s right.Either way, as societies contemplate new ways of living in a post-coronavirus world, Bregman has given us much to consider. Bregman admits this sounds 'New-Agey' and there’s that feel to some of this book. Another concluding recommendation is to learn compassion through meditation. Nonetheless, many will sympathise with Bregman’s support for creativity in education, the removal of healthcare bureaucracy and greater autonomy in the workplace - all of which he believes can come from trusting more. Bregman wrongly claims that ideology played 'a remarkably small role' in jihadists joining Islamic State a suspiciously precise quote about a murder comes from a book criticised for its dramatised scenes an assertion that playgrounds with slides and swings are 'a child’s nightmare' is bizarre. There’s plenty of entertainment along the way in his snappy phrasing. makes his argument with panache, however, roving millennia to use evidence from hunter-gatherer societies and modern examples, while taking on the theories of writers such as Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker. It’s a bold case that might seem delusional. The first is that the coronavirus crisis has largely displayed people at their best, while its impact has made many yearn for a more optimistic vision of the future.
stimulating treatise on reshaping society, which arrives at a good moment for two reasons.
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But Bregman’s examples offer a more caring ideal for how to perceive the world, a concept that is only going to seem more relevant in years to come. Whether or not it is a truly 'new realism' is a point for debate. in some ways these are redundant: the story of humanity woven into the book is sufficient to suggest a healthy way forward. Certainly, it is hard not to feel a greater sense of hope after reading the statistics on how hard it is to make soldiers want to kill their opponent. But Humankind is engaging enough to overlook these moments. His claim that 'to stand up for human goodness is to take a stand against the powers that be' also feels unnecessary, not least at a time when conspiracy theories about globalist elites are rife. Labelling his central thesis as a 'mind-bending drug' feels more than a little unnecessary. Bregman has a tendency to grandstanding, particularly in his introduction. Even when the stories covered are not novel, Bregman successfully ties them into an overarching narrative that, on balance, humanity is not so bad. Bregman’s attacks on the consensus around our nature are often delivered with aplomb and evidence. Releasing a book with the subtitle 'a hopeful history' during a pandemic that has led to thousands of deaths, put millions out of work and threatens to undermine the global financial system, is a brave choice.But Dutch historian Rutger Bregman’s latest work has enough research and anecdotes to make even Hobbesian cynics feel a little less jaded about humanity - even if they may not be fully convinced by every anecdote or example that he offers. Still, if the devil has all the best tunes, it makes a welcome change to read such a sustained and enjoyable tribute to our better natures. There will always be a battle between our altruistic and selfish instincts, our openness and our protectiveness – it is the very stuff of human drama.
But it seems equally misleading to offer the false choice of Rousseau and Hobbes when, clearly, humanity encompasses both. There’s a great deal of reassuring human decency to be taken from this bold and thought-provoking book and a wealth of evidence in support of the contention that the sense of who we are as a species has been deleteriously distorted. despite the almost bewildering array of characters and information, Bregman never loses sight of his central thesis. And, like the Canadian populariser, he’s not afraid to take his audience on a digressive journey of discovery. Bregman has a Gladwellian gift for sifting through academic reports and finding anecdotal jewels.