Linguist, author, and psychologist Steven Pinker will be speaking about his latest book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. In his book, he urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom to show that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West, but worldwide. Bill Gates called Enlightenment Now his “new favorite book of all time.”

Pinker is the Harvard College Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. A two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and the winner of many awards for his research, teaching and books, he has been named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People and one of Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers. His books include The Stuff of Thought, The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Blank Slate and The Sense of Style.