Humankind

Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman is a beautifully written book, originally in Dutch and later translated into English, without losing the essence of the subject. The author impresses upon us, the inherent goodness that is never lost as part of human nature and how forces around us constantly try to paint a picture of all is doomed. With war stories, historical facts, and studies in the fields of psychology, anthropology, and behavioral science, the author enthralls us with his keen insight and a humorous outlook intertwined to keep the narrative interestingIn reality, as I reflect on the topic, the concept is actually quite a challenging one, as we've grown to disbelieve in the inherent good in people, driven by news and social media, that only seem to show the bad in the world. After you finish reading, you realize that there are so many examples of goodness in the human nature, always surfacing around you, but we are blinded by the hatred, propaganda, and chaos that is spread by mediaIf there was an option to provide a 10-star rating, I would have provided that to this book - it changes your perspective as you continue reading through every example of bleakness that is transformed into a hopeful situation for humankind. As I am left reflecting on the takeaways from the book (and a mild spoiler, there are 10 that the author recounts at the end of the book), I feel all is not lost - there is hope for us, as a race, and if we are deliberate about changing the world around for us, then this book will be a beacon in the wilderness of the media world that is todayAnd, when you reminisce the stories from the book, don't hold back a tear or two or for the bold ones, a sniffle and an afterthought of how much more good, humans are capable of creating and spreading among our society!

It's a feel good book to read ..... if one can really carry the motivation from the ideas of this book we can change the world to an amazing place and love every fellow human being.... there are lots of takeaway and it helps us change prespective on many aspects of our day to day life ..... epilog is the best where he clearly summarized 10 takeaways

Seriously insightful and fascinating. Should be made mandatory reading for all, especially journalists and psychologists.Before I read this book, I thought that being kind was the aberration and exception and we were wired to be selfish, competitive, and self-focused. Glad to have read this.

Rutger Bergman’s Humankind - an excellent well written book; the author establishes with strong evidences that people are generally good; but the media spreads hatred; spreads fake news; exaggerates incidents; creates avoidable sometimes irresponsible emotional impact ; brain washes the minds of the innocent people with negativity; He further alerts people and warns them not to allow themselves to be misled by media. He has done enormous research to prove that ‘developing contacts’ with strangers erases prejudices from our minds. The book is very thought provoking; highly enlightening and educative. The book starts and ends with beautiful chapters and generally enjoyable; and is certainly a page turner. This is a book to be read by everyone.

We assume a lot.This book just destroys all our assumptions and helps us see all humans as good with lot of compassionWas a refreshing readWe may see all differently

After reading this book, I bought his other flicks. All the historians have been accusing humankind for their bad past. But Bregmen 's words are promising and opened a new windows of humanity to look at their pleasant inherited goodness. Not just blabbering but showcased all facts and statistics. After reading Sapiens, my mind was filled with negative thoughts on humankind but this book changed my mind. We need such a visionary at this time. When completed the last page of the book, my mind is filled with Hope. It changed the way I behaved to fellow humans. Now I am much calmer and worry free than before.

everyone should read this Brilliant book - a positive & kinder history of humanity . Turns out tat someof the most cynical descriptions of human incidents have more to them than widely known.The story of the real life equivalent of the " lord of the Flies" situation is most uplifting! and the converted Nazi in Denmark and so on..... wonderful book!

A must read for humans of any generation. Connects a lot of dots of our human condition and reconnects to our kindness.

Livro excelente, esse premiado autor é genial! Outro livro dele, Utopia para Realistas é ainda melhor.

It's great to read something that genuinely creates cognitive dissonance to what we keep being fed by the echo chambers of mass and social media: that human beings are fundamentally good.It is a well researched, and well written work, that makes a case for the Rousseauian vision of humanity to that of Thomas Hobbes, and it does it well. It certainly caused me to stop and re-think my cynicism at times, although some of the concepts may be a hard sell to those of us who have been inundated with the individualism and self-aggrandizement of growing up in a capitalist society.Still, whether you are already left leaning, a centrist 'realist', or on the right side of everything, give this book a chance. There are some very compelling arguments presented, backed by even more compelling facts.

¿Perdiste la fe en la humanidad?, ¿todo te parece horrible en este mundo? Probablemente algo está mal en ti, no en cómo va la humanidad. Considerado como uno de los pensadores jóvenes más importantes de Europa, su trabajo como historiador y escritor se centra en evidenciar la visión (objetiva) positiva de la humanidad. Lo anterior lo logra con datos, refiriendo experimentos psicológicos y sociales (de universidades e institutos serios e historias reales) que explican la naturaleza del ser humano el cual es bueno por naturaleza (menciona este autor). Con lo anterior Bregman contribuye a contestar una pregunta milenaria: ¿el hombre es bueno o malo por naturaleza? Muchos pensadores y filósofos se han hecho esa pregunta y aun se discute su respuesta bajo dos visiones originarias la de Rousseau (positiva) y la de Hobbes (negativa). Actualmente, el conocimiento del cerebro humano y los vestigios de sociedades ancestrales nos muestran evidencias que van cambiando la visión de la humanidad. La empatía parece ganar terreno en la explicación del ser humano (y la evidencia es difícil de cuestionar). El ser humano, ante otras especies -físicamente- es muy débil, y por ello tuvo que desarrollar otras formas de supervivencia, la más importante: la cooperación. Leer a Bregman da fe en la humanidad.

Great to read and be persuaded that humans can be a power of good in this messed up world. Against a backdrop of the current worlds shameful acts I feel a bit better. Momentarily at least for now!

vlot leesbaar, blijft interessant tot aan het einde.