The Social Animal

The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement

By: David Brooks

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

With unequaled insight and brio, David Brooks, the New York Times columnist and bestselling author of Bobos in Paradise, has long explored and explained the way we live. Now, with the intellectual curiosity and emotional wisdom that make his columns among the most read in the nation, Brooks turns to the building blocks of human flourishing in a multilayered, profoundly illuminating work grounded in everyday life.This is the story of how success happens. It is told through the lives of one composite American couple, Harold and Erica—how they grow, push forward, are pulled back, fail, and succeed. Distilling a vast array of information into these two vividly realized characters, Brooks illustrates a fundamental new understanding of human nature. A scientific revolution has occurred—we have learned more about the human brain in the last thirty years than we had in the previous three thousand. The unconscious mind, it turns out, is most of the mind—not a dark, vestigial place but a creative and enchanted one, where most of the brain’s work gets done. This is the realm of emotions, intuitions, biases, longings, genetic predispositions, personality traits, and social norms: the realm where character is formed and where our most important life decisions are made. The natural habitat of The Social Animal. Drawing on a wealth of current research from numerous disciplines, Brooks takes Harold and Erica from infancy to school; from the “odyssey years” that have come to define young adulthood to the high walls of poverty; from the nature of attachment, love, and commitment, to the nature of effective leadership. He reveals the deeply social aspect of our very minds and exposes the bias in modern culture that overemphasizes rationalism, individualism, and IQ. Along the way, he demolishes conventional definitions of success while looking toward a culture based on trust and humility.The Social Animal is a moving and nuanced intellectual adventure, a story of achievement and a defense of progress. Impossible to put down, it is an essential book for our time, one that will have broad social impact and will change the way we see ourselves and the world.

©2011 David Brooks (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"An uncommonly brilliant blend of sociology, intellect and allegory." (Kirkus)

“Authoritative, impressively learned, and vast in scope.” (Newsweek)

“As in [Bobos in Paradise] he shows genius in sketching archetypes and coining phrases. . . . In The Social Animal Mr. Brooks surveys a stunning amount of research and cleverly connects it to everyday experience.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Loved it!

I loved this book. it's very original and deep in its own particular way. Thank you.

Love David on TV ...but ...

Interesting, but very "wonky." I kept wishing for an outline to figure out just what Mr. Brooks was up to here.

Loveless, joyless, uninspired

I really wanted to love this book. Over the years I've worked hard to study all aspects of human behavior in hopes of creating a fulfilling life. This book promised to weave all of the individual aspects of human behavior research into one graspable narrative. However, the fictional lives portrayed were loveless, joyless, career driven and frankly tortured and bleak. I definitely admire Brooks for the effort, but I'm not really sure who this book is for or what message he wanted to get across. Those interested in hard research will be underwhelmed while those looking for life guidance will be left without any solid take away points.

Loved it

I loved this book. I teach college composition and research writing and would love to use David Brook's clever, insightful, and research-driven text to show the purpose of research.

An epic journey through the life of the mind

Listening to this book, I have in turns taken specific life advice, been struck by truths about human behavior, and felt deep empathy for these characters onto whom Brooks deftly models human nature. Enriching, fascinating, humorous, and moving - my understanding of what a person and a society is has been forever deepened.

The Emergence of Souls.

The storyline was well developed and usually successful. I truly appreciated the efforts and skills of the author and narrator. I strongly recommend this read for anyone who enjoys reality with a twist of research.

A masterpiece

It brings science alive into a story that made me listen attentively and focus immensely. It made me unconsciously reflect at every point about my own life and how I resembled some of the characters in one way or another. It described deep feelings and reasoned about conscious and mind in a way that I’ve never experienced before. For a person who reflects, this book is the answer, the connection to many desperate ideas and theories about life and how we lead through it.

The sound of Arthur Morey has a depth and pitch like those of wise people. All while listening I felt his presence as if he authored the book himself.

wonderfully informative and different

Brooks writes an engaging story of 2 people followed from inception (literally) to death (literally). In that saga, he incorporates what science has to tell us today about nature and nurture. My daughter-in-law is due to have her first child 2 months from now and i found the chapters on birth and infancy to be quite fascinating. I was also quite taken with Brooks first person accounting of death. Not something you read (hear) every day! The narration is excellent. Admittedly, there are some boring chapters but there's a trade off between information and story line. Go for it.

Excellent read

The Social Animal was a recommended read I was unsure about, however within a few chapters I was hooked. This book is well written. It will make you think a little deeper and move you emotionally as you invest inthe characters lives. I will be reading this one again.

an interesting study in human nature

thoroughly enjoyed it, style, story and education in human behavior. lots of food for thought.