“Think you know what others think about what you are thinking? It turns out you’re probably wrong. And thanks to When Everyone Knows, now we know why. Once you read this book, you’ll never view human behavior quite the same way again.”
—Jonah Berger, New York Times bestselling author of Contagious and The Catalyst

“An expository masterpiece. Steven Pinker explains, with beautiful clarity, how common knowledge is critical to successful human interaction.”
—Eric Maskin, Nobel Laureate in Economics and Professor at Harvard University

“Common knowledge—knowing that others know something, and that they know we know—is powerful. Thinking about it ‘illuminates many enigmas of our public affairs and personal lives’, Professor Pinker argues, in this fizzing, erudite book.”
—The Economist, 18 September 2025

“His genius is to take a phenomenon with which we’re intimately acquainted, such as blushing or talking or crying, to invite us to ask why we do it … then to hand us a sense-making narrative that returns us to ourselves with a satisfying feeling of renewed understanding.”
—Jessie Munton, Times Literary Supplement, 31 October 2025

“As lively an exposition of cognitive science as you are likely to find … A lucid, measured discussion of what we need to understand about our communications with each other … [the book] enlightens and provokes; to pick up Pinker’s own metaphor, it is worth dancing with.”
—Rowan Williams, The Guardian, 29 September 2025

“A characteristically lucid account [by the] superlatively gifted science writer … We need the next generation of Steven Pinkers. In an age when the term ‘public intellectual’ seems to stick to anyone capable of ranting into a microphone, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows… is a welcome reminder of what the real thing looks like."
—James Marriott, The Times (UK), 3 October 2025

“Reading Steven Pinker is always a delight. Each book gives you deep insight into things previously unseen, which then bathes the world we thought we knew in a new light. In When Everyone Knows, Pinker shows us that the transition from various forms of private knowledge to common knowledge is the key cognitive tool for understanding when and how people coordinate to bring about sudden massive change—for better and for worse. You can’t understand our social and political worlds, or markets and economies, without this tool. If Pinker’s ideas become common knowledge, we’ll be far better equipped to handle the massive disruptions already arriving in our hyper-networked world.”
—Jonathan Haidt, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Anxious Generation and coauthor of The Coddling of the American Mind

“Foregrounds Steven Pinker’s many virtues as a populariser of science: his lucid style, his ability to marshal technical research for a general audience, and his more specialised, uncanny talent for discovering New Yorker cartoons that illustrate arcane results … Pinker ranges far and wide, showing how common knowledge plays a role in everything from laughter and tears, to euphemism and flirtation.”
—John Maier, The Sunday Times (UK), 20 September 2025

“Makes a compelling case that knowing what everyone else knows transforms societies … Pinker is a graceful and clear writer, and he does a good job of guiding readers through various tangled logic puzzles … When he sticks to psychological research, he is fascinating.”
—Michael Marshall, New Scientist, 20 September 2025

“When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows… is one of the most insightful books I’ve read about what makes us human and how we understand each other. It changed how I think about the interactions I have, and I bet it will do the same for you.”
—Bill Gates, Gates Notes, 25 November 2025

“Fascinating … Provides a logical explanation for all sorts of seemingly irrational human behaviour.”
—Jemima Kelly, Financial Times, 17 September 2025

“A masterful look behind the curtain at the calculations that propel us forward. With his brilliant knack for exposing what we take for granted, celebrated cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker explores, among many phenomena, our very human tendency to reveal information strategically, only letting others see what we want them to see. It is a game we all play, wagering bets on how much of what a person is saying tallies with what they’re thinking. Sometimes our bets help us capture what we seek; at other times, we’re proven disastrously wrong. In holding up a mirror to our mental workings, Pinker teaches us how to better turn the odds in our favor.”
—Annie Duke, bestselling author of Thinking in Bets and How to Decide

“Insight packed. With brisk authority, Pinker shows that a key aspect of being human, sociality, depends on a mutual understanding of intentions, which allows us to make sense of responses like laughing and blushing and phenomena as various as myth-making and online cancel culture.”
—Daron Acemoglu, Nobel Laureate in Economics and New York Times bestselling author of Why Nations Fail

“Enjoyable … [makes] a convincing case that [common knowledge] is actually fundamental to the way we live our lives.”
—Steven Levitt, People I (Mostly) Admire / Freakonomics, 26 September 2025

“Tantalizing … A concept that seems to apply to everything we do with one another as humans.”
—Alan Alda, Clear+Vivid, 30 September 2025

“If a book is written by Steven Pinker, you know it’s going to be engaging and a deep thinker. And indeed, Pinker delivers.”
—Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor’s Choice

“A lively exposition of one of the most important and basic concepts in game theory, and the surprising ways it plays out in human affairs.”
—Robert J. Aumann, Nobel Laureate in Economics and Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

“Diverting and often informative.”
—Dominic Green, The Wall Street Journal, 01 October 2025

“The prose is clear, fast, and often witty … This is Pinker at his most readable … a lively and thoughtful exploration of a single powerful idea [offering] a fresh lens on the strange ways we coordinate, collide, and sometimes combust together.”
—John Mac Ghlionn, WORLD Magazine, 09 October 2025

“It’s a fascinating book … I loved it.”
—Bill Maher, host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher

“One of the world’s great thinkers among us today … He’s so optimistic, I rely on him to reset my pessimism.”
—Dax Shepard, Armchair Expert, 24 September 2025

“Well organized and clearly explained … There is a certain charm to the affable, playfully bumptious professor.”
—Dennis Duncan, The New York Times Book Review, 22 September 2025

“Profound … These are ideas I have never encountered before.”
—Russ Roberts, EconTalk, 22 September 2025

“With his characteristic wit and clarity, Steven Pinker has written a brilliant exploration of common knowledge as the glue that holds society together—and how its lack can tear the social fabric apart. Part game theory, part philosophy, part psychology, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows… is Pinker doing what he does best: explaining the world in rational terms that seem self-evident the moment you hear them. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the rules of the world in which we live—and how to extract maximum value from them to make it a world worth living in.”
—Maria Konnikova, New York Times bestselling author of The Biggest Bluff

“Interesting … This new work could easily appear arcane or abstract, [but] there is a galvanizing infusion of jeopardy, morality and reality.”
—Andrew Anthony, The Observer (UK), 19 September 2025

“Pinker continues his explorations of the hidden social functions of language and thought with this look at common knowledge … A revelatory, if sometimes challenging, look at the traps and rewards that lie within our words.”
—Kirkus Reviews, 30 May 2025