I chipped away slowly (usually no more than 20 minutes a day in the morning while my kids were still asleep) at Steven Pinker’s 453-page long Enlightenment Now and finished it recently. It’s a thorough—and I do mean thorough—survey of the key measures of human well being. And his convincing conclusion, backed up by charts and graphs galore, is that humans have made remarkable progress over the last few centuries, and we are living in the best of times. The daily news and your social media feed may make you think otherwise, but life right now for most humans is better than it’s ever been.

As I closed the book each morning I did so with a bit of gratitude for the heroes who came before us and made the world a better, safer, gentler place. And I came away more optimistic about the future. If you need a potent dose of good news, get this book.

I also finished the audiobook version of Ron Chernow’s biography of George Washington. At 42 hours, it occupied my dog walks and daily commute over a span of a few months. It started slowly, and Washington was not as endearing a personality as my favorite audiobook subjects from last year—Lincoln and Grant. But he grew on me as he grew into his role as the linchpin of the founding of the American republic.

Washington wasn’t the most brilliant military strategist, but he was courageous and heroically steadfast and inspired others by his charismatic presence. That he endured more than eight trying years outlasting the British army, often just barely keeping his army together and viable, is a greater military feat than any single battle he won.

And he was the indispensable man as the nation’s first president. His character and restraint set the standard for what a chief executive in a democratic republic could be.

He could be prickly and thin-skinned and vain. And though he wrote the emancipation of his own slaves into his will, he will always be tainted for what he didn’t do to move the nation away from slavery at its founding.

I toured his home, Mt. Vernon, shortly before I finished the book and took it in with a deep appreciation for what this one flawed but truly great man accomplished.

I typically have around three books going at any one time—non-fiction in the morning and at lunch, an audiobook for on the go, and a novel in the evening and on weekends.

The novel I most recently finished is The Three Body Problem, an award winning work of science fiction by Chinese author Cixin Liu. It’s a challenging read, especially in the early going, but it comes around to an intriguing concept. Imagine humans making contact with intelligent life far away in the galaxy. They’re coming, and they won’t come in peace. Some on Earth are throwing in their lot with the aliens, and others are preparing to resist an invasion that will be centuries in the future. This book is the first in a trilogy. I’ve got book two in my stack already.

Reading is a fundamental habit to build into your daily routine. Good books are transformational. Making deep reading a priority has made my days richer and more meaningful.