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)

An interesting journey through life

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

Yes, the performance of the reader was outstanding to say the least. The way that this book was read was captivating and held my attention.

What other book might you compare The Social Animal to and why?

I've never really read another book like this one. David Brooks weaves non-fiction and fascinating research through a fictional story that brings you into the minds of the characters Harold and Erica.

Have you listened to any of Arthur Morey’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I never have, but would absolutely listen to other books read by him. This was one of the best reading performances I have listened to and I am comparing this performance to many other books I have read.

Any additional comments?

I found myself captivated and brought into the worlds of Harold and Erica throughout the entire journey. Interesting facts and experimental psychology were woven throughout the entire book. There were many times where I felt like I grabbed a useful insight into life and really connected. There were other times were I found myself drifting away. For the most part I thought that this was a well written, interesting read. I have never quite come across a book before that blends fiction and non-fiction in such a unique and insightful way.

wow

this is a life perspective changing book. love the fictional narrative with academic meat stir fried in. you won't regret reading it ever.

lifechanging.

an attempt to describe all stages of life on the basis of neuroscience through the conceit of a generic fictional account of one couples life, wildly ambitious, aiming for the stars, at minimum giving us a deeper appreciation of the sky. to listen to this book is like absorbing the wisdom of a group of loving elders who must tell you everything they know sbout life from start to finish in less than 24 hours. a must read!

Great interweaving of narrative and research

It met my expectations, which were to hear about recent neuroscience research with recurring characters as instruments of explanation.

The most memorable moment was the last chapter.

The narrator was great.

Amazing

What a great book. A definite must read and a few lesson in life as well.

Brilliant

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is a superb book and I have no reservation in giving it 5/5 across the board.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The ability to weave the powerful results of rafts and rafts of research results in sociology, behavioural science, psychology, neuroscience, anthropology and more into a captivating story.

Have you listened to any of Arthur Morey’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No.

Any additional comments?

I have one complaint. The US-centric view causes David Brooks in one part to write (p348) about living in "New York, China or Africa". This is nauseating. At best, New York is a state - but generally spoken about as a city. China is 1.5bn people with widely varying conditions, circumstances, cultures and environments. The same goes for Africa: 1.0bn people living in 54 countries. Please stop talking about Africa as a single place.

Amazing book

Truly amazing, a must read or listen, touching and easy to follow a true treasure!

InsInsightful and entertaining

Any additional comments?

There is a lot of current information in this book, the author brings in the results of behavioral studies that are often surprising and sometimes contradict what one would (wrongly) assume. I learned a lot by listening to this audiobook and was entertained at the same time, what more can you ask.

A Technical Piece wrapped up in a Story. Thought provoking.

Almost everybody will find something of interest, something that resonates with him/her, something to take away from this book.

Interesting, but could be better

This is a story of a couple of fictitious people that Brooks uses to illustrate the points he is making about our human experience as we follow them through their lives. Brooks constantly backs up his assertions about them with a vast amount of references to social research. He does so both when that research points to a certain thing and when it is not so conclusive and he is clear about which is which. Which is excellent. That is all good but is executed better at some times more than others (best first 1/3 not so good middle 1/3, ok in final 1/3). The human social aspects Brooks is writing about are relevant to all of us regardless of our life path, but I think it might have been easier to identify aspects of your own life with those of Harold and Erica if the lives Brooks paints for them were not so wildly out of the ordinary. Still I enjoyed it and might have even gotten some things to think about out of it.