Answers a lot of challenging questions about nature vs. nurture, in a challenging fashion. After establishing how the debate is still going strong in scientific literature up through politics and intuitive morality, explicitly to counter anyone harboring notions that the balance had been determined and to expose the three dogmatic assumptions that undergird these mistaken notions, he gets into the meat of the book, a topical treatment of philosophical fears and then more specific societal hot buttons.

Pinker sets you up on the foundation assumptions of The Blank Slate (empiricist), The Noble Savage (romantic), and The Ghost in the Machine (mind/body dualism), logically dismantles each of these three problematic assumptions, exposing the false strength of the foundations and how they cause problems for theorizing at the top, then guides us down from our shaky position by addressing the resulting concerns, one per chapter, each an equally logical new foundation or perspective from which to defray instinctual concerns for self and society. For the self Pinker addresses the "Fears of Inequality, Imperfectibility, Determinism, and Nihilism" followed by an evolutionary exploration of ideas pervasive in modern psychology, and for society at large he delves into Violence, Gender, Children, and the Arts.

All in all I think Pinker cuts to the logical heart of the problems addressed in the robust manner than he usually does, and it's enjoyable to read incisive philosophy. In particular I like his keen eye for spotting false dichotomies (or trichotomies), but not every case where he spotted one grabbed my utmost attention, and some of the "Fears" linger with dangling ends. This may be in part because the book is dense and will probably require re-reading on my part to fully appreciate every argument therein. Still, in the majority of cases I find myself hard-pressed to play a better devil's advocate than he has inserted already.