Book review: “Humankind: A Hopeful History” by Rutger Bregman

First published on goodreads here

I have to admit that I put “Humankind: A Hopeful History” by Rutger Bregman on my summer holiday reading list because of the people that recommended it on the sleeve; Stephen Fry, Yuval Noah Harari and Tim Harford are some pretty solid credentials.

I was also looking for some good positive thinking in this year of political, social and economic turmoil. I was not disappointed

Bregman takes an overwhelmingly positive (dare I say, Dutch) perspective on why we should not despair in humanity and our potential for good. What I had not expected, was quite how comprehensive and compelling Bregman’s research of the “classic” research into human nature (especially the likes of the Zimbardo and Milgram and their twentieth century high profile social experiments) would be.

His critical analysis seems to debunk much that is “received wisdom” on motivation and behaviours and left me “refreshed”; I especially enjoyed his chapters on the Norwegian prison system (and how it actually seeks to rehabilitate, along with a pretty compelling case as to why this is cheaper for the taxpayer) and — to my surprise — also the content on the Holocaust (sobering, but compelling).

The final chapter, with some guiding principles for living life, was good, BUT I feel like this has more of the making for a companion book with a bit more depth and context (and perhaps building more explicitly on the framing of whole book and the dichotomy between Hobbes and Rousseau).

A book for our times.