Blue Skies

Let your inner optimist feel the validation of big data, compelling graphs and a great Gates endorsement while you read Pinker's latest and most admired books.

Am currently working with an O&G company as my client, and was pointed to a fossil fuel proponent named Alex Epstein. You might want to watch his reaction to an excerpt from Enlightenment Now available online. While deeply respecting the call to responsible knowledge gathering, truly wish Epstein had managed to read the whole chapter. Pinker describes the progression of fossil fuels from wood to natural gas as a progression in smart energy and civilization.

Despite having very different agendas, both authors are on the same page in promulgating solutions that "advance human flourishing now and in the future".

Thank you Maureen for having invited me to see Pinker speak a few months ago at the Atlanta History Center! While brilliant, he does have an interesting slant on divorce being one of the key benefits of an evolved society (one he has leveraged), and endorsing sympathy over empathy as a power for doing good.

Enlightenment Now and The Better Angels of Our Nature by Stephen Pinker

(Hard cover)