NON-FICTION
RUTGER Bregman’s Utopia For Realists, proposed a universal basic income. So it’s fair to say the Dutch historian is not afraid of ruffling a few intellectual feathers. In Humankind, he sets out to disprove the idea that humans are naturally bad. He identifies an epidemic of cynicism infecting figures in every generation, from Hobbes to Dawkins, who would have us believe we are inherently selfish.
He uncovers a real-life Lord of the Flies scenario in 1960s Tonga, finding no tribalism, no murder, but a group of boys who survive through cooperation. It seems Rousseau was right: we’re naturally good, but corrupted by society. Want compelling evidence most soldiers don’t actually fire their guns at the enemy? He has it. Proof the most famous psychological experiments showing our capacity for evil are unreliable?