Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Hear Steven Pinker speak, and take out a trial subscription to The Spectator, for £12

If you have been browsing The Spectator’s website as a visitor, we have the perfect opportunity to subscribe. Perfect, that is, you’re a fan of Steven Pinker – and if you’re not, you should be. He’s one of the most original, agenda-setting writers of our time.

From the use of language to the use of violence, his books are the sort that you return to over and over again. His latest book, Enlightenment Now, is out next week. I read a review copy over Christmas and while the embargo prevents me from saying anything about it I can say that it is, in my opinion, his best book yet. It’s about the many ways in which the world is improving: a feast of evidence, and also why we don’t believe it. A symptom, he says, of historical amnesia and statistical fallacies.

In my opinion, this is the biggest story of our time – and one that doesn’t get told because news organisations have a bias towards bad news. Judging the world via newspapers is like judging a city by spending a night in A&E: you tend to only see what goes wrong. You only get part of the picture. The full picture, in vivid detail, is in Enlightenment Now.

Prof Pinker will be in London on Wednesday 21 February, and in conversation with Sam Leith, the literary editor of The Spectator, in the Soho Hotel in London W1. We’re offering tickets to the event for £12, which includes a free copy of his book (which you can pick up on the night) and a three-month trial subscription to The Spectator.

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