Humankind

The best antidote to extremism, in my view, is to reject the old canard that humans are selfish and xenophobic by nature.

Bregman’s optimistic and affirming book dispels this myth with fascinating research and persuasive storytelling. Along the way, he examines deep questions like why we persist in believing the worst about ourselves and one another. Humans are wired for altruism and compassion and the more we understand that, the more difficult it is to persuade us to act against our most basic instincts.

After his great book Utopia for Realists, which called for a Universal Basic Income, Rutger advances his brilliant and uncommonly optimistic theories with a book that demonstrates, using a lot of historical and scientific evidence, that people are fundamentally decent by nature.

According to him, the evil side of our nature is a deviation created by our modern social and political systems. It demonstrates that our current leaders are highly dependent on that deviation to continue in order to thrive. Bregman provides some fascinating insights on how some of our history has been entirely rewritten in a negative way to… show more.

This wonderful book is the perfect ending to this list.

It is hopeful (as the title suggests) but it is also a good story about who we are as humans and what we believe about ourselves.

The big message is – we are basically good and care about others. I love that. It’s not just a feel-good text, it’s based on research, scientific evidence and a look at our history.

What we need right now to move forward in talking to our family, friends, colleagues, and fellow citizens – is hope. Enjoy!

If you think you know all about the famous Milgram experiment, in which people gave what they thought were painful electric shocks to another person under orders from an authority figure, then you need to read Humankind.

Historian Rutger Bregman takes us on a journey through human history, re-examining events and research studies, and debunking the idea that we are selfish and self-interested.

Although this view of human nature takes a terrible toll on our economics and our politics, this hopeful book shows how much better we can be.                                

What happens during a crisis? Do people act to save themselves or do they help one another? Just how fragile are the bonds that hold society together?

In this unforgettable book, Rutger Bregman argues that cooperation and consideration are the default reactions of humanity. Drawing from many sources, including a real-life Lord-of-the-Flies situation, he demonstrates that human nature is hardwired for kindness and trust rather than competition and cruelty.

All you think you know about human nature might just be wrong.

I read Humankind in the summer of 2021, a year into the pandemic and at a point when I wasn’t sure what the future looked like—all I knew was that the present seemed pretty bleak. Rutger Bregman’s book provided a counterweight to my fears and weariness, revitalizing my commitment to my fellow humans. It reminded me of my personal motto, a quote from the Roman writer Terence: “I am human; no human thing is alien to me.” If we try, there’s almost no human experience we can’t find a way to relate to.

I always believe that people and the world are inherently kind. Rutger Bregman proves this theory true. His knack for finding small stories that have a big impact is one of a kind, and he backs these stories up with thoughtful research and additional notes. I feel like if everyone read this book, the world would have less division, and people would realize we are all on the same team fighting for what we believe is kind and good. Hence the title: Humankind. This is hands down one of my favorite books I have ever read.

I read Bregman’s book during the height of the pandemic and it was the perfect escape from all the sadness. It’s a history book full of happy stories. Most history books are downers and are full of death and destruction, but Bregman proves that humans aren’t all that bad. Wait until you read the part about the Stanford Prison Experiments. Reading the book, I realized that you could learn so much from stories of hope and perseverance.

Bregman rigorously and convincingly turns every commonplace assumption about human nature on its head. Human beings are bad, right? All those psychological experiments show it! Well, no, actually – Bregman goes through every single one of them and shows they’re full of holes. He also personally investigates an incredible case dubbed “The real Lord of the Flies”. It is easy to think that human beings are bad or, conversely (as I did), that human beings are generally vaguely alright. Well, Bregman showed me forensically that human beings are really something much more definable – pack animals, akin to dogs.

Somewhere in the last decade of the 2010s marketing lost the plot. Look, technology is always going to be around us and help us do things. But in marketing, the fascination became about the tech and the metrics and less about the people. In this decade we got caught up with the notion that people are bad because of what they say or do on social media. What Bregman notes is that people actually are good with econometric data to prove it. We don't create environments like Lord of the Flies. We actually do the opposite. But somehow in… show more.