I recently finished reading Steven Pinker's newest book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress and thoroughly enjoyed the entire book. I found it amazing and comforting to consider all of humanity's progress since the Age of Enlightenment began, and I'm not as concerned about national and international day to day events but trust that we're on the right track.
It's on my list, but I haven't gotten to it yet.
I enjoyed the scholarship, wit, and insight that Pinker displayed in “The Better Angels of Our Nature.” It’s uplifting to read works that show something that we intuitively know but must wade through waves of negativity to understand: that this is the best time ever to be alive, and that the never lived an emperor in China who lived better than your standard middle-class guy in any ok country. And that’s without taking into account that the Xiong Nu, Mongols, and all the other Central Asia invaders who laid waste to civilizarion are no longer a threat.
First became interested in Pinker when I listened to him talk about his Better Angels book on Book TV 5 or 6 years ago. Book TV is on C-SPAN 2 every weekend.