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The Blank Slate
- The Modern Denial of Human Nature
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
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The Blank Slate
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Publisher's Summary
In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading experts on language and the mind, explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits - a doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century - denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts.
Injecting calm and rationality into debates that are notorious for ax-grinding and mud-slinging, Pinker shows the importance of an honest acknowledgment of human nature based on science and common sense.
NOTE: Some changes to the original text have been made with the author's approval.
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What the critics say
What listeners say about The Blank Slate
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Vladimir Druts
- 2018-03-10
Pinker is an intellectual Perseus.
Pinker is a modern day intellectual Perseus.
Not only is Pinker a strong writer; clear, concise and probing, he is masterful at the utilization of history to build strong and intriguing premises.
His breadth of knowledge of the world, philosophy and science, and his fascination with other important subjects outside of his main discipline make for a colorful and harrowing journey through time.
A wonderful reading of a true intellectual renaissance man.
In today's culture of extremes and group-think this book is a true beacon of light.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Zane Gates
- 2022-01-25
Thorough
Very thoroughly researched and written book. The subject matter of the book is basically in line with the type of insight/revelation/epiphany that one is likely to experience during a psychedelic trip. It's about some universal truths in the "nature of things" that can be easily felt on an intuitive level yet difficult to explain articulately. This book puts it all together in a succinct format. I don't imagine this is the type of book designed to change anyone's mind, but rather help you explain your position more accurately when you encounter people with silly beliefs about what we can change in our world.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anton
- 2018-09-14
Very insightfult
This book provided a lot of unexpected ideas backed up by research data.
Listening to this recording made me feel calmer, more comfortable and honest about being myself: a mortal, scared, imperfect, doubtful and skeptical human being. In some cases I could say that a veil was lifted from my eyes, and I could see the world around me clearly.
Some thoughts and feelings that were lingering in the back for of my mind for years suddenly found nice and eloquent expression on the pages of this book.
#Audible1
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
- Stéphane
- 2018-10-27
Fascinating study of human cognition
This book covers in very extensive and nuanced details how genetic factors may play a role in how we behave. Pinker makes no simllistic assertions here: genes play games and the emerging strategies express themselves as emotions, reflexes, biases, etc., all of which are susceptible of interaction with each other and the world, both physical and social.
Of all possible priors, assuming human behavior, cognition and psychology is biologically unbounded is at one extreme of an entire spectrum of possibilities. Pinker suggests the appeal of this idea might have grown out of horror for Nazi Germany and, indeed, nothing more explicitely emboddies disgusting human tendencies than Nazism. You want to flee far from that -- and the blank slate is as far as you can conceptually flee.
It is a great read for anyone interested in human behavior, though it curiously seems political in this day and age.
As far as I can tell, knowing how we behave is the best way to design successful solutions to our problems -- and Pinker once again puts his finger on a bleeding wound.
The nicest part about Pinker is that he leans relatively leftward, technically does study humanities and social sciences and is a college professor: it is hard to paint him genuinely in a bad light as he is commenting about his own circles.
It is a great read, even if you aren't interested in the problems that emerged recently on college campuses. How he ties biology to behavior is a very good and rather simple summary of scientific research. He also takes the time to explain the details of how we reach conclusions, so you get to understand the most important aspect of science: which questions to ask.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kevin A. Hodgins
- 2019-06-01
The current state of,… History, and Future, of Human Behavior - Explained!!! 🤯
While I am normally full of all sorts of remarks and unique anecdotes… Writing this review has perplexed me for the last hour – how to describe this book…? Words simply do not do justice to, nor can they describe, the importance and the impact of, the hidden truths so eloquently researched and described in this book. Not knowing this information will be perilous to your own personal, as well as your family genetics, survival... 😱
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Blue Bonobo
- 2022-12-01
Classic
Many mistakes are avoidable with a coherent understanding of human nature. This book is a must-read.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Jon Cleveland
- 2021-07-16
used to love it but feels dated
2nd time going through this one. really enjoyed it when it came out. now I feel it to be a dated shot fired in the culture wars saga. When data is used its used well but after an anecdote or personal opinion your back to the same ol straw men and personal assumptions. its mostly just an opinion piece fortified by the odd study here and there to bolster it. many big claims not enough evidence.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Karen
- 2019-05-22
Couldn't finish it
I've read other books by Steven Pinker that I've thoroughly enjoyed, such as The Language Instinct and The Better Angels of Iur Nature but I couldn't get through this one. I just didn't find it interesting.
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