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The Blank Slate

The Modern Denial of Human Nature

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The Blank Slate

By: Steven Pinker
Narrated by: Victor Bevine
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Recently many people have assumed that we are blank slates shaped by our environment. But this denies the heart of our being: human nature.

Violence is not just a product of society; male and female minds are different; the genes we give our children shape them more than our parenting practices. To acknowledge our innate abilities, Pinker shows, is not to condone inequality but to understand the very foundations of humanity.

©2003 Steven Pinker (P)2019 Penguin Audio Consciousness & Thought Movements Neuroscience & Neuropsychology Philosophy Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Sociology Socialism Capitalism

Critic Reviews

"A passionate defence of the enduring power of human nature...both life-affirming and deeply satisfying." (Daily Telegraph)

"Brilliant...enjoyable, informative, clear, humane." (New Scientist)

"Startling.... This is a breath of air for a topic that has been politicized for too long." (Economist)

All stars
Most relevant  
One of the best books I've ever read (ok, listened to). Steven Pinker takes difficult and complex subjects and provides simple yet indepth explanations about human nature and their impact on these topics. The book exudes common sense, which is sorely lacking in today's far left and far right ideologies.

Thoughtful, clever, funny, fascinating

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really good, difficult to give a detailed review becuase its a long book which covers many topics. think of it like multiple different but related books, each needing to be read in order. the end result is you will learn a lot and won't regret the time you invested in it

really good, very extensive

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A thorough examination and data backed rebuttal of so much of the ideological BS we find ourselves wading through these days. The latter parts of the book were more enjoyable but built on the earlier parts. As is often the case, the people who really need to read books like this, won’t. None so blind … Great work by Pinker.

Common sense backed by science

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The first couple of chapters were hard to get into, I was tempted to stop listening. But I persisted with the book and it got more interesting after that. Some parts were good, others seemed quite biased as if the author was pushing their own agenda. So overall not great and not terrible.

Kind of average

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What a shame I found the content of this book really difficult to engage in and absorb with the robot reading.
I’ve enjoyed Pinker’s previous books, however, struggled to listen through this this presentation.
Can you keep the next book human?

Robotic reading

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The author knows what he’s talking about, the book is well researched and the topic exhaustively discussed. It is however distractingly long and academic. It appears to me the author loves to hear himself speak, and to lecture us all on pretty much everything. The topic is delicate and approached in a very elegant way, but I often find myself thinking mid chapter: what are you trying to tell me?!
The narrator of the audiobook did not go well with me, i found the tone of voice to be patronising and lecturing which I found counter productive. I would recommend reading the book rather than listening to the audiobook.

A good book, but way too wordy for its content

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