The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology

Robert Wright's 'The Moral Animal' is a phenomenal look at the science of evolutionary psychology, using Darwin's own life (and his published and unpublished writings) to organize and explain various ev. psych topics like: marriage, families, society and social status, and morality.

In a growing field of popular books on psychology, geology, economics, evolution, etc., Wright tends to stand apart (along with the likes of E.O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, Steven Leavitt, Michael Lewis, John McPhee, Oliver Sachs, Michael Shermer, etc).

It all tends to fit into Wright's 'big thesis' on non-zero sum relationships. If you haven't read Wright's 'NonZero', or 'Evolution of God', go pick those two up after you read/listen to this one. They are all fantastic.

Greg Thorton does a good job of narrating this masterpiece of science writing.

The Moral Animal is THE book on evolutionary psychology. Robert Wright applies a straightforward game-theoretic analysis to theorize how natural selection shaped human psychology, and gets remarkably penetrating insights into human nature.

I feel like I am seeing human nature laid bare. I find myself shaking my head in awe, because after I hear Wright's characterization of some social dynamic, it seems so clear obvious in retrospect that I can't believe it's not common knowledge.

I also love the way Wright applies the principles of evolutionary psychology to analyze episodes in Darwin's life. Wright's Darwinian understanding of human nature enriches the book's view into Darwin's life.

This is one of the best books in the entire Audible collection. A must-listen.

It may be the case, that any first book I were to read about the new Darwinian Paradigm would change my life - but the fact is that I read this one.
Wright's delivery is comprehensive, powerful, razor sharp, enjoyable, challenging, insightful, inspired and inspiring.
Truly a work that will go down in history as a herald of morality's future.

The first half of this book is exciting, provocative and excellently argued. I was amazed about how the evolutionary psychology discussed could mirror my life. I had decided to buy a kindle version as well to read over. But the 2nd half was a complete disappointment. Boring, insipid and more a biography of Darwin's life, not something I had signed up for. Also the theories were now discussed in such a way as to fit into Darwin's life retrospectively.

That's why it's 2 books; the first half mind-blowing, the 2nd, contrived and boring. But just for the first half, the book is worth 4 stars.

I would, only for the 1st half

There were no characters

Yes, the 1st half was un-put-down-able

This book was written in 1994, and its underlying philosophy holds true today, even if a few other theories on evolutionary psychology have eclipsed what Wright has written here. (Just as what Charles Darwin has written is still powerful despite the work that has been done after his death, interestingly.) For those of us who are atheists, a book like the Moral Animal becomes extremely important because it shows that morality does not need to come from a deity, and instead likely comes out of our own interest in passing our genes to the next generation. Although I personally feel that at least some morality need not come out of clinical self-interest. Nor does it always need to be explained. The Moral Animal along with Wright's latest book, The Evolution of God, have, inadvertently or tangentially, done more for the cause of atheists than any works before, during or since.

This is a profoundly insightful book that explores the inner evolutionary workings of the human being in regard to what we term moral behavior, particularly in the sexual realm, as Wright sees the reproductive urges and needs of the male and female animal as being perhaps the greatest inner (and thus often highly subconscious) motivators of almost all "moral/immoral" behavior and views them as the very source of the need for moral systems to start with. A fascinating read and a great introduction to the growing realm of evolutionary psychology.

Robert Wright’s Moral Animal (1995) is not one of the new books on the topic of evolutionary psychology, but it is a start. Here Wright explains thinking associated with evolutionary psychology and links it to the life and teachings of Charles Darwin. The book is thought provoking and gently takes the reader into this relatively new psychological perspective. Wright’s consideration of kin-related altruism was of particular interest to me. For my taste, however, Wright spends more time on Darwin’s biography than on introducing evolutionary psychology per se. I will look further to learn more. Greg Thornton's reading is a plus.

Evolutionary Psychology was a new topic for me and I found the presentation to be interesting and understandable. The last part of the book, where the author attempts to deal with the moral/ethical issues raised in the first part, was not nearly as interesting to me as the 1st part.
There were 2 aspects of this book that made it memorable. First is the excellent narration. This is the first book that has prompted me to look for others by the same narrator, and sadly there is only one. Greg Thornton has a pleasant voice with a slight accent. It reminds me of Ray Romano's voice. And the delivery helped to keep my attention from wandering (as sometimes happens with audiobooks) without being overdone or distracting.
Secondly, the author's frequent use of material from the life of Charles Darwin to illustrate the material he was presenting was a bonus. I never expected to find a biography of Darwin embedded in this book.

I was absolutely amazed that a theory of origin could so succinctly describe and explain the rationale for modern human behaviour. I am a born skeptic but, this work is very good. What a beautiful gift it was to learn from this book the true nature we hide from ourselves and by knowing, to gain power over it. Reading this book was an exercise in liberation. As some skeptics of evolution have said, "the truth will set you free" and so it does.
To make the information more readable and to explain his points, the author brings in stories from Darwin's life from his love for his wife to his devout faith in god. This does makes the book less academic and more personal. The narration was very well done and easy to listen to.

If I could have read the entire book--I would have likely rated the story higher I am sure--however the narration made it impossible for me to pay attention to the text and I could not complete the book.