Not really worth it

The problem with this kind of books is that the author usually really on other's work and findings, so he can pick and choose what suits him best. I am not saying this is happening to Steven Pinker, but he did seem to refute what is compromising his hypothesis in the book. For readers, we need to be more critical than ever. Popular psychology books can be entertaining to read, but at the end of the day, it won't stick for the simple reason that there are many theories out there, some of which are quite contradicting. I remember the first book of sort I read, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything ended up being "debunked" by Pinker. I think the highlight of the book is when Pinker summarised the Bible spectacularly.

The books actually is quite simple. First he proved violence has declined, which in my opinion is plain to see. Second he proposed using sometime his and sometimes other people's theories to explain this decline. I just don't think it deserved to have so many pages. Blinkist can do the work equally well.