A much needed slice of optimism and positivity from Rutger Bregman. A good reminder that humans are mostly good. Very hard to feel confident in that feeling when a live-streamed genocide is happening… unfortunately, the goodness seems to reside mostly in the hands of the powerless.

Uplifting and motivating without ever coming across as naive, Rutger has written a powerful, and accessible, argument in support of the hope that people are in fact good.

Enjoyed this - a fascinating and pleasingly optimistic survey of humanity. It's a little simplistic at times but it has considerable reach and we definitely need more of this kind of perspective at the moment.

This was a really quick read which I found myself really enjoying. It’s a profoundly optimistic book, arguing that humans are generally inclined toward cooperation and care for one another, and highlighting the pitfalls (and manipulations inherent in) certain famous studies that people have relied on for a rather pessimistic view of humanity. We’re talking Stanley Milgram’s electric shock experiments, Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment, and Muzafer Sherif’s Robbers Cave experiment — “I was just following orders”, “power will inevitably be abused”, “kids will go full Lord of the Flies if left alone”.

The criticisms of these are known elsewhere, based on methodology and skewed reporting (the experimenters put heavy pressure on the subjects of the electric shock studies, and many of the subjects didn’t actually believe there was anyone being shocked; the prison guards were heavily coached to behave the way they did by Zimbardo himself and a hand-picked guard, plus the guy who allegedly went crazy just wanted to get out of there and acted it; the kids were manipulated into fighting, but actually tended toward cooperation and reconciliation when left alone), and Bregman lays out the criticisms well. He’s not some lone voice in the wilderness here: if you read around, there are plenty of critiques of those old experiments, and attempts to reproduce the results have failed or had markedly less success.

He also picks apart the very well known “bystander syndrome”, by pointing out that one of the people who didn’t act in the famous case of Kitty Genovese’s murder was terrified of being found out for being queer, and instead ran to find someone else… who ran out of her home immediately and held Genovese in her arms until an ambulance arrived. Kitty Genovese didn’t die alone, and witnesses did call the police, who gave the reports low priority as the witnesses didn’t know what they’d witnessed was a serious attack.

At the same time, Bregman does acknowledge that these results were obtained and can be under some circumstances. It would be wrong to characterise his point as being that humans are always going to be good. In fact, he points out situations that bring out the worst in us, mostly (in his view) in line with the mismatch hypothesis: humans as a species didn’t evolve for this modern, technological world with crowded cities, neighbours you don’t know, etc.

His answer is not that we necessarily need to go back to pre-city ways of living. In fact, many of his suggestions are about bringing out the best in ourselves in the world that we have, with individual-level suggestions about trust, avoiding the news, not getting swept up in the latest outrage, etc.

I think he’s an optimist and an idealist, and his argument that we can’t be cooperative and good to one another without trust is difficult to refute in a world where suspicion seems like the best option. His most realistic suggestion is to live, as an individual, as trustfully as possible, and reach for the cooperative solution as much as you can. To do good openly, and spread that goodness by example.

Much of what he says is what I’d like to believe, and much of what he suggests is how I already choose to act, so of course the book plays into my bias. Still, I think it’s well-written, spiced with just the right anecdotes to make his point, and a good (and surprisingly quick) read — I tore through it. If he’s wrong, well, I’d like him to be right, and I think little harm will come from believing that he’s right.

This took me months to read, not being it was boring but because it took me time to digest. The basic premise of the book which the author thinks is a radical idea is quite simple. It says that most people, deep down, are pretty decent. It sets out to debunk the veneer theory which says that humans by nature are selfish, aggressive and quick to panic. He says that we humans suffer from negativity bias and also availability bias of news. I found myself nodding along and have recommended this to everyone since!

Perfect for fans of Factfulness by Hans Rosling and Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, and perfect for reading at the beginning of the year due to its hopeful optimism/realism. It was interesting to gain a history of research into humankind, but for me what was best about this book was the looking to how to apply the surprising results to current life, in all areas e.g. education, politics, crime.

This book gripped me from the very start and I found myself falling down various rabbit holes as I followed the journey that Rutger had laid out in his book. A wonderful read with some very eye and mind opening topics

This is a late review. I made the mistake of putting the book down and it took a while to return to it. I am pleased I did.

I was initially fascinated by the author’s account of finding the real life “Lord of the Flies” boys. It is a tremendous story, well researched and written. This along with people’s misconceptions about war are very thought provoking.

I would like to have the opportunity to recommend to all 16 - 18 year olds that they should read this book or “Factfulness”, produce some discussion topics and so create a scheme for tutor periods in the sixth form. Something along the lines of a Bookbuzz for older pupils!

The example set of good, painstaking research, the discussions of different arguments and how views change over a period of time are all very good and I am sure would help with giving pupils an idea of how to approach their studies. It would also help them to see the outside world in a different light.

At the heart it is a readable, thought provoking book.

An interesting read that I'm glad to have discovered. I'll definitely be seeking out more by this author.

At last an history of humankind which is both acurate and hopeful! True, people can do - and have done - terrible things. We know that from experience.

But people can also be selfless, brave and generous, even when they don't have to, even when there's no rewards or punishment. Just because it's the right thing to do. (The proof is the true story of "Lord of the flies", whose ending is much happier than the book's.)

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what we have to remember if we want to make our world a better place.

Join the Durham Book Festival team, as they discuss some of the books they’ve loved reading this year. In this special podcast, Claire, Rebecca and Grace, share their highs and lows of reading in lockdown and highlight some of the new titles they are most looking forward to delving into this Autumn.

A fantastic reminder that everything is not as bad as it feels. Everyone needs this book - could not be more timely!

This was an okay book, but not something that I loved. Interesting concept but not exciting or outstanding.

Accessible, engaging, fascinating and timely. Bregman's exploration of Humanity as innately kind is a questioning and subversive argument. A book to press into the hands of many, particularly during these adverse times. The premise is thoroughly researched and well presented, exploring patterns in our history to illustrate the argument. One is left feeling hopeful and overtly optimistic about the future of Humankind.

I think this is probably marvellous, but it didn't grab me I am afraid. I will, however, give it another read when life (with the pandemic, the worst governments we've seen in both the UK and the States in a long time etc) feels a little better. Perhaps I am missing the point, but not feeling very optimistic right now, I found its optimistic message a tad irritating despite the authors best efforts. Its clearly well researched and well thought out but it left me cold.

This book was very well researched and thought out which made for very intruiging and engaging reading. I hope to read the author's other works

A good survey of the good sides of human nature, that we are not as bad a species as aspects of the media and politicians would have you believe. I also heard the author on the odd podcast, interesting for context and thoughts in writing the book. Details on the Stanford experiment for example, that this is discredited, in not new but very little known and the the benefits of a book such as Humankind is to bring this information to a wider audience.

The main criticism is that it comes across as close to a polemic in places - that the survey and background information (and interpretation of it) behind some of the text is selective rather than objective. That aside this is a good and engaging read.

Quite a challenging read, but for a pessimist like me I found it quite uplifting. Through evidence based research, Bregman shows us that we are right to believe that mankind is innately good. A message that we perhaps need to hear right now.

A sweeping, hopeful re-think of history of how we have more in common with the people we live alongside than we may assume. It genuinely challenged my thinking and gave a great deal of encouragement. The world would be better if we could all absorb its messages.

☆☆☆☆
An interesting read, not my usual type of book. It took me a while to read this book but I'm glad I persevered with it.