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)

David Brooks?

I have a lot of respect for David Brooks. Rarely do I agree with him, but I appreciate his civil discourse and intelligent reasoning. So, this book was a real disappointment! It is very repetitive and can't really make up its mind what it wants to be - fiction, psychotherapy, social commentary? It's a mixed-up mess, in short. Sorry, David, not recommended.

Could had been great, but All Made Up

Brooks is comparing and contrasting two different made up lives and how they clash together in our social deal. He doesn't really do it well enough. Knowing the stories are made up kinda is the downfall of this book. I can see the points that he is making, but the stories aren't too far fetch where if he did a little more research, he could had wrote something that is real, then what is thought up in his head. In these kinds of books, I like real examples. If you ever read Outliers, you would know exactly in what I'm talking about.

I just like real subjects when reading these kinds of book. If Brooks did a little more research, this title would be outstanding, but his characters are made up and he is trying to put the facts and fable together, which is interesting, but not great.

Brilliant

wonderful views from childhood to old age and death.

made me realize things about myself. helped me discover the core of why I am who I am.

also very sad at the end. have fun not crying.

awesome

Where does The Social Animal rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Not political at all and well put together kept me involve the entire time. Compares to the books by Malcolm Gladwell, but with more of a constant story line.

Any additional comments?

Reminds me of Freakanomics and Outliers

amazing

I loved it and hung on to every word. a book every deep thinker should read.

An amazing work on the human condition

David Brooks did an artful work to summarize the wide variety of research studies on human actions, decision making & social interactions… this vast array of studies are rolled into this well written novel of a couple long lives… I was more impressed with this than any other book I've heard on Audible.

Captivating!

I found this book riveting. I learned so much, and was very entertained. Brooks did such a good job interweaving the stories of his main characters, Harold and Erica, and the most current research on human behavior. I was was so attached to Harold and Erica that I was crying at the end of the book, when they too live the last chapter of their lives.

Laughed, Cried, Learned Social Psycology

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

How We Decide- Jonah Lehrer. Also a lot of Malcolm Gladwell books.He references these types of books a lot.

If you could give The Social Animal a new subtitle, what would it be?

Social Psychology 101 in Narrative Form

Any additional comments?

As someone who has read Malcolm Gladwell and Jonah Lehrer in the past, I thoroughly enjoyed a similar presentation of interesting statistics about psychology and sociology. He did repeat some of what has been said in other books- so I had heard some of it before. The book itself tries to synthesize much of that kind of data. The narrative element kept it engaging, and I felt like I knew Harold and Erica. David Brooks used a humorous writing style as he explored dozens of social topics. If I had one criticism, I would say that he touched on too many topics, and could have hit a stronger main point had he narrowed his range a bit. Overall, it was a joy to read. As a 20 something, it made me reevaluate my priorities in life.

Fantastic. Just love it!

I really liked it. One of the few books I lamented when it finished. I wanted to go on and on.

Very good insights and a storyline that helps understand the concepts presented. I even bought a hardcopy version to present my father!

Soul Moving Materials

Warm tears were flowing to my eyes at the last part. This book have captured human emotions, and that’s the reason life is wonderful. What a great read!