This posting is a bit off topic, but every once in a while it is nice to get some positive news about the world.  The discussion of threats, risks, and disasters gets depressing sometimes. Below is part of a review on a new report from the Homeland Security Digital Library. See: The Human Security Project Report, titled “2013 Human Security Report -The Decline in Global Violence: Evidence, Explanation and Contestation,” which analyses Pinker’s data and also independently reviews data on recent global and regional violence. [Pinker’s book is titled The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.]

Overall, it finds that “Better Angels” has sound research and a firm case in its claim that humanity is less violent now than it has been in recent eras. The Report hopes to aid in the debate with more recent information and research independent of Pinker’s own. It includes an extensive library of charts and graphs analyzing global and regional violence, and finds that since 1989, not only has violence dropped, but that “there has been an upsurge in international efforts to ensure a more secure world.”

If you have not read Pinker’s book, I recommend it.