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EVERY WEEK, WE bring you a round-up of the best longreads of the past seven days in Sitdown Sunday.
And now, every weeknight, we bring you an evening longread to enjoy which will help you to escape the news cycle.
We’ll be keeping an eye on new longreads and digging back into the archives for some classics.
Steven Pinker has written a number of books about human progress – but because of his views, he’s become somewhat controversial.
(The Guardian, approx 31 mins reading time)
In The Better Angels of Our Nature, published in 2011, he gathered copious amounts of data to show that violence had declined across human history, in large part because of the emergence of markets and states. Understandably, the book struck a chord with people who move markets and run states. Gates called it “the most inspiring book I’ve ever read”, and Mark Zuckerberg included it on a list of what to read at Davos. Then, in 2018, at the height of Donald Trump’s presidency and amid the accelerating climate crisis, Pinker published a follow-up, Enlightenment Now, which expanded his argument. It wasn’t just that life had become less violent; thanks to the application of science and reason since the 18th century, the human condition had dramatically improved in health, wealth and liberty, too. Bill Clinton had Enlightenment Now on his bedside table, and Gates declared it his “new favourite book of all time”.
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Love this..the mad Bast*rd :)… Fair play and good luck to him!
Couldn’t agree more. Taking g a chance has also given great publicity to it all.
Heard this guy talking to Anton a few weeks ago when he was trying to get some black cabs out of London. He sounds like serious craic. Hope it all works out for him. I’d go for the storytelling this man does..hilarious.
His enthusiasm is great. He’s got real drive. I hope it goes really well for him.
The cabs arrived last week! A double decker bus came two days ago.
There’ll be loads of couples heading to Sligo to join the mile high club.
The turbulence will be pretty bad I’d say too
When the plane’s a-rockin’…….
Pity it wasn’t a Boeing 7-69!!!!!
I’ll get my coat…. and Av geeks, I know that a 769 doesn’t exist
If he could only get his hands on a couple of unattended Luas carriages…
He should call it AIR B and B.
Looks like plane sailing from here.
There will be plenty of people flying in that aircraft this summer ☺
Maybe not THIS summer. Won’t be ready by then.
The mile low club surely …… it’ll be on the ground! Mind ye, they should put this guy in charge of the modular housing!
Good for him, this is deadly!
Sleep in a scrapyard in Sligo for €200 a night
Yep.
Is that the same jet in which Boris Yeltsin toured Ireland, all those years ago, searching for a hangover cure before his audience at Shannon with then Taoiseach, the late Albert Reynolds?
Good luck to Mr McGowan with his new Undertaking.
Great idea. Hope it works out for him.
Flying without wings
Even on the ground a Russian airliner is a no go area for me
Good on ya David…such a big ‘undertaking’! Hope it ‘lands safely’ in Enniscrone and that @quirkyglamping ‘takes off’!
Now that’s what you call plane sailing.
Sh it! Just noticed that’s in the headline…
Brilliant
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