My definition of great art is one that evinces a deep understanding of human nature on the part of the artist. Pinker skips the intermediating work of art and talks about human nature directly, but does so without abandoning the wit, style and clarity that one would expect were the same information coming in the form of an eloquent narrative. His ability to distill mountains of research into a coherent thesis and correlate it with the everyday realities of human experience is nothing short of astounding.