Book of the Month: Humankind - A Hopeful History - Rutger Bregman
For Companioning Your Journey’s second Book of the Month, Rutger Bregman’s, “Humankind: A Hopeful History”.
About the Author and Publication
In their second book, following 2014’s “Utopia for Realists”, Rutger Bregman postulates the idea that people are good, despite some of the events in life that lead us to believe otherwise. Originally published in 2019, and later translated to English in 2021, this book impacted me deeply and came at a time when I was seeing so much darkness in humanity and wanted desperately to hold onto the belief that the world was not walking an irreparable path. This not only aided my worldview but also got me excited about learning even more about the people around me and working to help them see the good in the world, themselves, and others as well.
Here is a brief excerpt that shares the foundation of this book, “It argues that people are decent at heart and proposes a new worldview based on the corollaries of this optimistic view of human beings.” What an idea, right?
Key Take Aways
Overall Premise
This book takes on different ideas that we use to make the argument that man is bad and flips them around to use research supporting the idea that man is good.
Is Kindness Hereditable?
One of the ideas explored in this book was whether or not kindness was a genetic trait that could be passed along to other generations. To explore this, the author talked about a few key ideas.
Looking Friendly vs Vicious: One of the ideas explored was that it is fascinating how in most cases, creatures that are friendly appear friendly and those that are dangerous look intimidating or have features that advise caution. Not only is this true of animals, but also of the way that humans have taken shape. We have rounded, soft expressions, the ability to emote, and we are one of few species who have a large amount of white around our eyes. This allows us to build trust, tell the person we are speaking to if we are looking at them, and to convey empathy.
Arctic Foxes: There are a breed of foxes that are known to be some of the most aggressive animals known to man. They claw, bite, and attack without being provoked. Experimenters decided to see if they could possibly tame this species and they set out to do just that. Using bite sleeve, the research team would put their arm inside the cage of the arctic fox to see if they would bite. All of them did. But, if any foxes hesitated for even a moment, they would be selected for the program and bred together. Over the course of three generations following the same process, the arctic foxes became as friendly as puppies and even began to exhibit a curled tail and floppier ears.
If Man is Good, Why ____?
One of the areas that the author did an incredible job with was regularly highlighting reasons that people believe the world is bad and asking, if man is good, why do they _____? Two of which I will explore below.
War/Killing: If man is good, why is there war and why do people kill?
The author goes over a few impactful wartime stories such as the ceasefires and truces made between warring parties. They also accounted on rifles recovered from the civil war that were found to have been reloaded repeatedly without firing so that soldiers appeared to still be fighting when in actuality some wouldn’t shoot.
It is actually statistically very rare that people do kill. It might surprise you to hear that less than 1% of all deaths around the globe are from homicide.
Bad News Reports: If man is good, why do I always see so much ____ on the news?
The reports and content we receive are curated to keep us watching, rack up views, and find a way to strike a response. There are infinitely more positive things that happen which never see the light of day but the thing that gets the most attention is often acts of violence or divisive material. To help combat this, take time to look at recent wins for causes you care about or to acknowledge the little things that happen around you to brighten your day.
What Made this the Book of the Month
There are so many things in the world today that aim to divide us and put people into boxes that do not overlap with those on the other side of the fence. We do so much better together and if we can believe, honor, and hold onto the fact that our neighbors are not only more like us than apart, but also valuable parts of the light we wish to see in the world. We are not in this alone and I believe, along with the offer, that humans are innately good and have a desire to heal far more than to harm.
Conclusion
If you need some refreshing or want to brighten your outlook, check this read out and I hope it has the same impact for you that it did for me!
What has been one of your most impactful reads? Are there any that you feel like more people should get their hands on? Let me know and I would be happy to read and review in a future post!
