Bill Gates has a new favorite book — and he says everyone should read it

pulse

January 29, 2018 7:47 PM

Bill Gates has a new favorite book, "Enlightenment Now" by Steven Pinker. It's a comprehensive look at the ways the world has gotten better.

Bill Gates has a new favorite book, dethroning a book that has stayed at the top spot for more than a decade.
The book is "Enlightenment Now" by cognitive scientist Steven Pinker.
Pinker examines 15 metrics of human progress, making the case that life is far better today than it has ever been.

Billionaire philanthropist and avid reader Bill Gates has announced, after more than a decade, that he's got a new favorite book.

The book is " target="_blank"Enlightenment Now" by cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, and true to the typical bibliophile's ways, Gates thinks everyone should read it.

Pinker is held in high regard by the former Microsoft CEO. For years, Gates has recommended another of Pinker's books, " target="_blank"The Better Angels of Our Nature," as his favorite book. The 832-page text reviews the history, and decline, of violence around the world.

The data prove the world is getting better

Pinker's new book, released later this February, tackles a similar topic, Gates explained in a recent blog post.

"Enlightenment Now" builds on "Better Angels" to include 15 different metrics for measuring human progress, including health, science, and knowledge. Pinker makes the case that life is far better today, despite its many difficulties, than it was centuries — or even decades — ago.

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