Share <Embed>

Buy new:

$22.08

List Price: $30.00

Save: $7.92 (26%)

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon or get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

Arrives: Friday, Jan 29 Details

Fastest delivery: Thursday, Jan 28
Order within 9 hrs and 14 mins Details

Only 1 left in stock (more on the way).

Secure transaction

Ships from	Amazon.com
Sold by	Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Other Sellers on Amazon

$13.69
+ $5.19 shipping

Sold by: Modetz Errands-n-More

$28.28
+ Free Shipping

Sold by: Publisher Direct

$24.87
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: LKF Booksellers

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Gregg Easterbrook

It's Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear Hardcover – Illustrated, February 20, 2018

by Gregg Easterbrook (Author)

86 ratings

See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$11.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover, Illustrated

"Please retry"

$22.08

$13.69

$2.23

Paperback, Illustrated

"Please retry"

$11.15

$4.00

Great on Kindle

Great Experience. Great Value.

Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.

View Kindle Edition

Is civilization teetering on the edge of a cliff? Or are we just climbing higher than ever?

Most people who read the news would tell you that 2017 is one of the worst years in recent memory. We're facing a series of deeply troubling, even existential problems: fascism, terrorism, environmental collapse, racial and economic inequality, and more.

Yet this narrative misses something important: by almost every meaningful measure, the modern world is better than it ever has been. In the United States, disease, crime, discrimination, and most forms of pollution are in long-term decline, while longevity and education keep rising and economic indicators are better than in any past generation. Worldwide, malnutrition and extreme poverty are at historic lows, and the risk of dying by war or violence is the lowest in human history.

It's not a coincidence that we're confused -- our perspectives on the world are blurred by the rise of social media, the machinations of politicians, and our own biases. Meanwhile, political reforms like the Clean Air Act and technological innovations like the hybridization of wheat have saved huge numbers of lives. In that optimistic spirit, Easterbrook offers specific policy reforms to address climate change, inequality, and other problems, and reminds us that there is real hope in conquering such challenges. In an age of discord and fear-mongering, It's Better Than It Looks will profoundly change your perspective on who we are, where we're headed, and what we're capable of.

Frequently bought together

Total price: $48.22

One of these items ships sooner than the other. Show details

Buy the selected items together

This item:It's Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear by Gregg Easterbrook Hardcover $22.08
Only 1 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00. Details
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling Hardcover $11.15
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00. Details
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker Paperback $14.99
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00. Details

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Ronald Bailey
159
Hardcover
$24.95
Hans Rosling
7,965
Paperback
$11.59
Steven Pinker
2,607
Paperback
$14.99
Matt Ridley
913
Paperback
$13.19
Gregg Easterbrook
90
Paperback
$13.10
Hans Rosling
7,965
Hardcover
$11.15

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Special offers and product promotions

Amazon Business : For business-only pricing, quantity discounts and FREE Shipping. Register a free business account

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Besides providing new ammunition for optimists, Mr. Easterbrook's aim in this important book is to identify what we've been doing right and to consider what we can do about the still pressing problems we face... Mr. Easterbrook wants to make optimism intellectually respectable again, and he has done so with cogent arguments and bountiful evidence."―Michael Shermer, Wall Street Journal

"'It's Better Than It Looks' makes many good arguments about inequality...Easterbrook is good on democracy and dictatorship (democracy is better at money and better at war). He is also good on climate change (the technical solutions are there, and all will be fine 'if society chooses reform,' though that choice is surely the crux of the problem)."―Angus Deaton, New York Times Book Review

"Easterbrook sets out to disabuse readers of any casual pessimism and equip them with enough facts and arguments to silence dinner parties from now till kingdom come... rich in detail and observation."―Philip Delves Broughton, Weekly Standard

"Countering the usual pessimism disseminated by the 'experts' and rebroadcast by the 'if it bleeds, it leads' media, 'It's Better Than It Looks' ably defends the view that the grand sweep of history has gone from generally bad to generally good for the vast majority of the world's populace. Whether the book surveys global food supply, infectious diseases, the natural system, the economy, violence, technology or governance, the overall outlook consistently comes up positive, according to Mr. Easterbrook. His impressive, rather objective, amply-referenced, perspicacious analysis supports his optimism."―Anthony Sadar, Washington Times

"Terrific...Easterbrook's core conclusions are compelling, and he writes with a journalist's flair."―Foreign Affairs

"An argument worth considering."―Kirkus Reviews

"America, like most of the world, has fallen prey to a false and destructive narrative: the belief that everything is getting worse. In this important and compelling book, Gregg Easterbrook sets the record straight. His refreshing analysis can restore our optimism and help heal our poisoned politics."―Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci

"It's Better Than It Looks is a welcome corrective to our fashionable pessimism that things are bad and getting worse, by providing a wealth of evidence that the reverse is true. Gregg Easterbrook is clear-eyed nonetheless in facing up to present challenges, and reminds us that there is always a way forward out of seemingly unsolvable problems."―Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University

"Gregg Easterbrook regrets to inform you that the future is a lot rosier than you've heard. Not only are things Not So Terrible, they are actually Quite Good-and Getting Better. The world's citizens are living longer, economies are expanding, and we produce more food than we can eat. He even suggests that our most intractable problems, like economic equality and climate change, can be ameliorated in our lifetimes. It's Better Than It Looks is anything but Panglossian. It serves up persuasive arguments mustered by a trenchant, erudite and consummately un-boring writer. Start reading - you'll become a believer, too."―Alex Beam, Boston Globe columnist

"I highly recommend that every college and university president purchase enough copies of It's Better Than It Looks to give to every one of their students...Understanding how the world has improved, and will improve in their lifetimes, may be amongst the most important things that we can teach them. It's Better Than It Looks is a good place to start."―Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

About the Author

Gregg Easterbrook is the author of ten books, two of them New York Times Notable Books. He was a national correspondent for the Atlantic, and since then has been a contributing editor. He is a former visiting fellow of the Brookings Institution (dual fellowship in economics and in governance studies) and a distinguished fellow of the Fulbright Foundation.

He often writes for the Atlantic (nine cover stories), New Republic (seventeen cover stories), and New York Times (thirty-three op-ed pieces and counting). He has been a politics columnist for Reuters and a sports columnist for ESPN. He has written for the New Yorker, Science, Wall Street Journal, Wired, Esquire, Washington Monthly, and Los Angeles Times.

Product details

Publisher : PublicAffairs; Illustrated edition (February 20, 2018)
Language : English
Hardcover : 352 pages
ISBN-10 : 161039741X
ISBN-13 : 978-1610397414
Item Weight : 1.8 pounds
Dimensions : 6.5 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #919,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,131 in History of Civilization & Culture
- #2,569 in Economic History (Books)
- #11,326 in Historical Study (Books)

Customer Reviews:
86 ratings

Start reading It's Better Than It Looks on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Customer reviews

5 star		68%
4 star		16%
3 star		7%
2 star		6%
1 star		4%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

SaxmanAlex

We love bad news -- admit it!

Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

The details are compelling, and thoroughly footnoted, although the Doomsday addicts and assorted naysayers will call this an "opinion" piece. What is it about our nature that we deny so many of the positive trends around us? Yes, the media inundate us with "bad news," since "if it bleeds, it leads," and good news tends to be boring, but the author shows that we amateurs are just as bad or worse in our choice of news clips we read and post. Our Facebook and other social media postings show that we love to spread negative news and unfounded rumors of base behavior. So don't blame the media alone; look in the mirror.

12 people found this helpful

Helpful

T. ORourke

Very entertaining

Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2018

Verified Purchase

I am a fan of Mr. Easterbrook. This is by far the best book of his I have read and one of the best books I've read in a while. He has a good sense of humor while confronting us with the human tendency to think with emotions rather than the facts. I was at the Newseum a few years ago and perused the old newspapers there, and also saw an art exhibit where the work of art was displayed with the front pages of NY Times when it was created (in the 60s), and the news was uniformly HORRIBLE back then. Things are so much better now. For the most part, we are adjusting the dials a little bit on a humanity that is making steady progress. Sure, most countries, including ours, have jackasses running them, but the local governments and leaders in our communities are helping us live better lives. How often does the power go out now? How convenient is shopping? Getting medical care? This is the best the world has ever been. We only see how much better it can be, rather than how good we have it. And not everyone has a great life, or even good one, but way more people have good lives than used to and it should only get better. I was in southern Africa at the peak of the AIDS crisis (a much overused word, but appropriate here), and I could never have imagined then what we have accomplished since with hard work, ingenuity and persistence. He ends his book with great, and, I think, suitable optimism. Despite all the existential threats, the world keeps getting better and we should keep trying to make it so.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

katewickham

Incomplete and distorted information

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

I was enjoying this book and making copious notes (Kindle version) when I got to his description of the 1970's gas crises. He overly simplified it and left out half the story and any trust I had in the information he's presenting evaporated. There are a lot of great books about about climate change. Don't waste your time with this one.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Elizabeth

Great & interesting read during these challenging times!

Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is a fascinating and uplifting book that I found to be an encouraging and hopeful overview of positive historical trends. In these very difficult times, Easterbrook's hopeful take is refreshing, and reminds us that the world is getting better on many fronts. The book is full of interesting and extremely readable analysis - He reviews economic, environmental, military, and technological trends, and reminds us to step back from the day's headlines and take stock of all the good that humankind has achieved. The author acknowledges the many serious challenges we still face (e.g., income inequality), but encourage us to be optimistic about our ability to make the world a better place.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Anthony J. Bamonte Jr.

I am not sure I can finish this

Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2018

Verified Purchase

While some of the points presented are sober and promising, the economic analysis is aggressively one-sided. Not since high school have I been treated to such exuberant "capitalism, capitalism ra ra ra" simplicity.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

ReviewMaster101

rather he contradicts the talking heads that would have you believe that things are worse than they've ever been

Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book should be required reading for everyone. Easterbrook never suggests that there aren't still problems in the world, and he discusses many of them at length, rather he contradicts the talking heads that would have you believe that things are worse than they've ever been.

Humanity has always overcome and solved their problems, and optimism always wins.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

AmazonGuy

Finally some good news!

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2018

Verified Purchase

How refreshing is it to read something about the current state of affairs that offers a positive outlook! Gregg's writing is both informative and entertaining, and is a just tonic we need to remind us that things today are the best they've ever been, and the United States (with all of mankind) will continue to evolve and solve the various problems that still exist.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Devlin Fenton

You are lucky to be alive in these days!

Reviewed in Canada on July 15, 2018

Verified Purchase

Some creative licence but facts are hard to refute. Life is good. Better now that it's ever been, even with all of "today's modern woes"...

See all reviews

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Buy new: $22.08

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

It's Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear Hardcover – Illustrated, February 20, 2018

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Customers who bought this item also bought

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Buy new:

$22.08