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Michael Shermer’s The Moral Arc is a powerful defense of reason, science, and humanism as the true drivers of moral progress. With data, history, and clear arguments, Shermer shows how violence has declined, rights have expanded, and empathy has grown—not because of faith, but because of Enlightenment values. Inspiring, rational, and optimistic.

Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies is a powerful defense of liberal democracy and a sharp critique of totalitarianism. Written during World War II, the book dissects the philosophical foundations of authoritarianism, tracing its roots from Plato to Hegel and Marx. Popper argues that historicism—the belief in inevitable historical laws—fuels oppressive ideologies

Our cognitive faculties predispose us to believe that we live in violent times, especially when they are stoked by media that follow the watchword “If it bleeds, it leads.”