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)

A few interesting bits, but mostly so dated

I wouldn’t normally pick up this sort of book, but a friend thought it was worth the read. I only made it about 35% of the way through before giving up. The central premise - that we are fundamentally highly social, and decisions that we think are intellectual, professional, practical etc are all deeply mediated by hormonal and social factors - is good. The storytelling is good. The constant reference to limited cultural norms as though they are absolute is totally tedious and is why I gave up on it.

Great Book

I really enjoyed this, and my mom and sister each bought it and liked it too. Great way to present interesting information, 5 stars.

A magnificent read

Life truths written in a way i enjoyed tremendously - as if it was written for me. A deeper meaning of life well explained.

Engaging, Interesting, and Well Researched

Would you listen to The Social Animal again? Why?

Absolutely! It is so dense that I need to listen several times to fully absorb the finer points.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The characters tie the narrative together in an understandable and engaging manner. Recognizing human trends in behavior and development is fascinating in how we change as we grow and develop.

Light but interesting

Brooks refers to a number of books by other authors - Jeff Hawkins (On Intelligence), Dan Ariely (Predictably Irrational), Daniel Gilbert (Stumbling on Happiness), among others. Each of those books provides a better in-depth view of a particular idea Brooks tries to get across at different points in his book, but The Social Animal attempts to provide a survey of current understanding of our unconscious brains and is reasonably entertaining and successful in doing so. If you want to gain an in-depth understanding our our unconscious mind and how it functions, there are better books. But if you want an introduction into the many ways that our unconscious brain affects our everyday lives and allows us to be happy (or not), this is a good introduction.

Falls apart in the second half

I totally agree with a previous reviewer that this book is "a mess." That is the best way to describe this book.

I truly enjoyed the beginning of the book, but in the second half it just gets totally haphazard and forced. He just puts Harold and Erica into any situation and then lists some random study or quote to justify it, but each point is disconnected from the rest and incompatible with the initial narrative that started off so strong.

I did finish it, but it was definitely a struggle to keep up with it in part 2.

I DO NOT recommend this audiobook.

Narration was fine, though.

Wonderful

Great read!!! Really can't believe some of the negative reviews, it is well written and a joy to read.

Incredible

This book covers a lot of ground on the psyches of two very different individuals. Using their lives as a way fit the reader to learn lessons about his and the world in general, this really helped put a lot into perspective.

The end is also incredibly moving and kind of hard to swallow - although you know what's coming. I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about human nature or themselves.

impressing

Would you consider the audio edition of The Social Animal to be better than the print version?

What a amazing insight into the deepest corners of the human mind. I personally found this a profound experience to listen to. This audiobook made me experience a whole array of emotions and feelings even if with its scientific explanations and background it was somehow meant to be a book about solid facts and figures.

lost puff

Brilliiant start and great concept but not sustained through entire lifespan of the main characters. The trajectory of their lives into old age was one dimensional and an anticlimax as though the author had run out of puff and just wanted to get it over and down with.