Social Elephant

Human beings are primates, and primates are political animals. Our brains, therefore, are designed not just to hunt and gather but also to help us get ahead socially, often via deception and self-deception. But while we may be self-interested schemers, we benefit by pretending otherwise. The less we know about our own ugly motives, the better - and thus, we don't like to talk, or even think, about the extent of our selfishness. This is "the elephant in the brain".

Training is created with the goal of changing learners' behaviors, but anyone who has created learning experiences knows that there's a big gap between knowing and doing. You can create an engaging learning experience that informs and helps people remember, but often those people go back to their regular world and continue to do things the same way they always have. In the last few decades, the fields of psychology, behavioral economics, and other behavioral sciences have brought an enormous amount of scientific research into helping people with behavior change.

Rogue Elephant traces the radicalization of the Republican Party over the past 50 years, arguing that its subordination to Donald Trump was not an anomaly, but rather the culmination of processes at work for decades. Providing a new perspective on figures from Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush to the Tea Party and Donald Trump, it shows that the party's lurch to the far right was the product of a volatile mix of a disorganized party structure and a divided and fractious class of American business owners.

Completely revised and updated to tackle today’s issues, the 10th Anniversary Edition not only explains what framing is and how it works but also reveals why, after a brief stint of winning the framing wars in the 2008 elections, the Democrats have gone back to losing them, and what can be done about it. In this powerful new volume, George Lakoff delves into the issues that will dominate the midterm elections in 2014, the coming presidential elections, and beyond.

“Genius ... It is miraculous to read these pieces ... You must read The Best of Me.” —Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review For more than twenty-five years, David Sedaris has been carving out a unique literary space. A Sedaris story may seem confessional, but is also highly attuned...

#1 New York Times bestseller! In this unforgettable collection of essays, acclaimed humorist David Sedaris lifts the corner of ordinary life, revealing the absurdity teeming below its surface. Sedaris plays in the snow with his sisters. He goes on vacation with his family. He gets a job selling...

"Sedaris is a remarkably skilled storyteller and savvy essayist ... And based on this collection, he's getting only better." —Los Angeles Times A guy walks into a bar car and ... From here the story could take many turns. When the guy is legendary essayist David Sedaris, the possibilities are...

As it was in Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Othello, so it is in life. Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, financial fraud, government corruption - even murder and genocide - generally require an additional moral defect: a willingness to lie. In Lying, bestselling author and neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie.

This New York Times best seller is the authoritative guide to comprehending what happened in the 2004 elections and understanding how progressive thinkers can wrest control of America's political dialogue away from the conservatives who have it now.

'But Hillary is a known Luciferian,' he tried. 'She's not a known Luciferian,' I said. 'Well, yes and no,' he said. In The Elephant in the Room, Jon Ronson, the New York Times best-selling author of The Psychopath Test, Them, and So You've Been Publicly Shamed, travels to Cleveland at the height of summer to witness the Republican National Convention.

When 11-year-old Jack Martel crawls out of his pup tent on the first morning of his camping trip with his mom in Acadia National Park, he notices right away that something isn’t right. Where is his mom’s tent, and their rental car? And where is his mom? Any other kid might panic, might even go to the police. But Jack isn’t like other kids. And his mom isn’t like other moms. Jack knows that it’s up to him to find his mom before someone figures out what’s happened and separates them forever.

In David Sedaris's world, no one is safe, and no cow is sacred. With the legendary essayist’s signature biting wit, this collection skewers family dysfunction, awkward childhood memories, and the absurdities of modern life. A do-it-yourself suburban dad saves money by performing home surgery...

Shooting an Elephant describes the experience of the English narrator, possibly Orwell himself, called upon to shoot an aggressive elephant while working as a police officer in Burma. Because the locals expect him to do the job, he does so against his better judgment, his anguish increased by the elephant's slow and painful death. The story is regarded as a metaphor for colonialism as a whole, and for Orwell's view that 'when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys'.

Starting school can be exciting—but making friends? That’s the tricky part! Join Ellie the Elephant in this funny and heartwarming rhyming adventure as she faces her fears about meeting new kids. With a little courage, some deep breaths, and a big dose of laughter, Ellie discovers the best trick of all: being herself! Perfect for kids entering preschool or elementary school, “Ellie the Elephant Makes a Friend” is packed with: ✅ Relatable lessons about friendship and overcoming shyness ✅ Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques like reframing negative thoughts and deep ...

You see the giant footprints the moment you walk through the door. The conference room is a swirling mess of tension, heaviness, anxiety, and peanut shells. Something is very wrong with your team. Everybody knows it, but nobody is talking about it. It’s obvious there’s an elephant in the room. Is it an Avoidephant, feeding off the fears of retaliation and exclusion? Perhaps it’s a Blamephant—whom we love to feed because it makes us feel better about ourselves. In Don’t Feed the Elephants!, Sarah explores how you can address the true elephant in the room: avoidance.

Like one in six people in India, Sujatha Gidla was born an untouchable. While most untouchables are illiterate, her family was educated by Canadian missionaries in the 1930s, making it possible for Gidla to attend elite schools and move to America at the age of 26. It was only then that she saw how extraordinary - and yet how typical - her family history truly was.

When Grief first arrives, it is an elephant—so big that there is hardly room for anything else. But over time, Grief becomes smaller and smaller—first a deer, a fox, then a mouse, and finally a flickering firefly in the darkness leading us down a path of loving remembrance.

We Bought a Zoo meets Jurassic Park in a gripping story featuring the evergreen appeal of human-animal friendships and set in an elephant sanctuary, about a 13-year-old girl, a cast of elephants, and a surprising new arrival - a woolly mammoth. Sam was born and raised in an elephant sanctuary. When a beloved elephant dies giving birth, Sam develops a connection with baby Woolly - who isn't actually an elephant but was cloned from woolly mammoth DNA.

In fact, all the animals laugh when he tries to copy what the other fairies do. So, Mister Fairy travels far from his forest home to another place where, almost by accident, he discovers and shares his special gift. Sometimes your talent is hiding in plain sight; it just takes the right time and place to reveal what was there all along. Mister Fairy is a touching, humorous story about fitting in, self-discovery, and finding one’s place in the world.

Do you feel exhausted by tribalism? You aren't alone. As culture warriors divide the world into us and them—fracturing families, friendships, and churches—most of us long for an end to the constant fighting. But does a practical path exist? Jesus lived in a culture split by tribalism, but he resisted its allure by choosing something bigger: truth. He's now inviting you to apply his ancient path to the modern culture war. How would your community change if you became a catalyst for Christlike unity? Rejecting tribalism is the first step.