We are prone to assume the worst of people, thanks to the news and other media - society as a whole. I mean, just think of all the wars and violence and discrimination! Enter Rutger Bregman, who wants to break our pessimistic view of others, and he does a great job at explaining where our assumptions stem from (often from sketchy studies and wrongly interpreted events) and how to build a new perception of human nature. The message is persuasive, hopeful and eye opening, but the structure of the book leaves a lot to be desired. I listened to the audiobook and though I enjoyed this all the way through, it was hard to keep track of how the different examples link together. Also, some topics are dealt with quite superficially, like the Holocaust, to which a lot of pages are dedicated, but not much stuck to my mind in the end.