As promised in my previous review this book was next on my list after reading Bregman’s other book, Humankind. Utopia for Realists puts forward the idea of a universal basic income, for everyone. Yes, free money. Yes, everyone. It sounds outlandish but did you know that it’s already been successfully trialed in Canada? And that it was very nearly public policy in the USA? This is not just a thought experiment set in fantasy land. It is backed up by logical arguments, research, and real […]

Survival of the fittest. Every man for himself. There’s just no good in this world anymore. All those maxims are mistaken, according to Rutger Bregman, a young Dutch author who theorises in this, his second book, that humans are actually kinder than we think we are. And if we can agree to think so, we can change our future for the better. Readers of Yuval Noah Harari will recognise certain themes and retellings of history, for example in the chapter titled ‘The Curse of Civilisation’ […]