Book review: Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman
Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Officially my new favourite book
I would have given this fantastic book a solid 6/5 if I could, despite the following flaws:
1. I do not remember the Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins leading to the depressing conclusion that Humans are selfish by nature. But I could be mistaken; I read the book quite a while ago and my memory could be playing tricks;
2. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was definitely not a “French philosopher”. He was born in Geneva before the Republic & Canton joined the Swiss Confederation, making him a Genevan philosopher 😉;
3.I fail to understand how the Enlightenment “invented racism”. Racism had been around as an institution long before the Enlightement.
Without these shortcomings, we would be looking at 7 stars out of 5! This is the most inspiring book I have read in years.
My plan now that I have just finished reading it, is to read it again. And then to turn it into the perfect christmas gift for the people I love and who could do with a new perspective on humankind.
Thank you Rutger Bregman for being such a good writer and storyteller and for providing all the footnotes to support the idea that this is not just a validation of my deepest beliefs, but that the evidence to support this realistic perspective is actually overwhelming.
No spoilers here my friends. Just read the book. Please!
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