A brilliant inquiry into the origins of human nature from the author of The Better Angels of Our Nature and Enlightenment Now. Sweeping erudite sharply argued and fun to read..also highly persuasive. Time Now updated with a new afterword One of the worlds leading experts on language and the mind explores the idea of human nature and its moral emotional and political colorings. With characteristic wit lucidity and insight Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traitsa doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past centurydenies our common humanity and our individual preferences replaces objective analyses of social problems with feelgood slogans and distorts our understanding of politics violence parenting and the arts. Injecting calm and rationality into debates that are notorious for axgrinding and mudslinging Pinker shows the importance of an honest acknowledgment of human nature based on science and common sense. show more