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With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column and his previous best sellers, David Brooks has consistently illuminated our daily lives in surprising and original ways. In The Social Animal, he explored the neuroscience of human connection and how we can flourish together. Now, in The Road to Character, he focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives.
It used to be pretty easy to distinguish between the bourgeois world of capitalism and the bohemian counterculture. The bourgeois worked for corporations, wore gray, and went to church. The bohemians were artists and intellectuals. Bohemians championed the values of the liberated 1960s; the bourgeois were the enterprising yuppies of the 1980s.
What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson's answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research. Humorous, surprising, and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily, and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street.
In an eye-opening tour of the unconscious, as contemporary psychological science has redefined it, Timothy D. Wilson introduces us to a hidden mental world of judgments, feelings, and motives that introspection may never show us. This is not your psychoanalyst's unconscious. The adaptive unconscious that empirical psychology has revealed, and that Wilson describes, is much more than a repository of primative drives and conflict-ridden memories.
What if the mystery of market crashes stems from a simple but total misunderstanding of our own minds? Could everything we think we know about ourselves - intelligence and rationality versus emotion and irrationality - be wildly off the mark? Simply put: yes. With these words, Denise Shull introduces her radical - and supremely rational - approach to risk. Her vision stems from the indisputable fact that human beings can't make any decision at all without emotion and that emotion gets the first - and last - word when it comes to our perceptions and judgments.
Ray Dalio, one of the world's most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business - and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.
With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column and his previous best sellers, David Brooks has consistently illuminated our daily lives in surprising and original ways. In The Social Animal, he explored the neuroscience of human connection and how we can flourish together. Now, in The Road to Character, he focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives.
It used to be pretty easy to distinguish between the bourgeois world of capitalism and the bohemian counterculture. The bourgeois worked for corporations, wore gray, and went to church. The bohemians were artists and intellectuals. Bohemians championed the values of the liberated 1960s; the bourgeois were the enterprising yuppies of the 1980s.
What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson's answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research. Humorous, surprising, and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily, and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street.
In an eye-opening tour of the unconscious, as contemporary psychological science has redefined it, Timothy D. Wilson introduces us to a hidden mental world of judgments, feelings, and motives that introspection may never show us. This is not your psychoanalyst's unconscious. The adaptive unconscious that empirical psychology has revealed, and that Wilson describes, is much more than a repository of primative drives and conflict-ridden memories.
What if the mystery of market crashes stems from a simple but total misunderstanding of our own minds? Could everything we think we know about ourselves - intelligence and rationality versus emotion and irrationality - be wildly off the mark? Simply put: yes. With these words, Denise Shull introduces her radical - and supremely rational - approach to risk. Her vision stems from the indisputable fact that human beings can't make any decision at all without emotion and that emotion gets the first - and last - word when it comes to our perceptions and judgments.
Ray Dalio, one of the world's most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business - and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.
Why do we do the things we do? More than a decade in the making, this game-changing book is Robert Sapolsky's genre-shattering attempt to answer that question as fully as perhaps only he could, looking at it from every angle. Sapolsky's storytelling concept is delightful, but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: He starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs and then hops back in time from there in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its evolutionary legacy.
The guru to the gurus at last shares his knowledge with the rest of us. Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman's seminal studies in behavioral psychology, behavioral economics, and happiness studies have influenced numerous other authors, including Steven Pinker and Malcolm Gladwell. In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman at last offers his own, first book for the general public. It is a lucid and enlightening summary of his life's work. It will change the way you think about thinking. Two systems drive the way we think and make choices, Kahneman explains....
From elicitation, pretexting, influence and manipulation all aspects of social engineering are picked apart, discussed and explained by using real world examples, personal experience and the Science & Technology behind them to unraveled the mystery in social engineering. Kevin Mitnick - one of the most famous social engineers in the world - popularized the term social engineering. He explained that it is much easier to trick someone into revealing a password than to exert the effort of hacking.
Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data: Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West but worldwide.
Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say yes - and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His 35 years of rigorous, evidence-based research, along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior, has resulted in this highly acclaimed book. You'll learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader - and how to defend yourself against them.
By the end of on average day in the early 21st century, human beings searching the Internet will amass eight trillion gigabytes of data. This staggering amount of information - unprecedented in history - can tell us a great deal about who we are - the fears, desires, and behaviors that drive us, and the conscious and unconscious decisions we make. From the profound to the mundane, we can gain astonishing knowledge about the human psyche that less than 20 years ago seemed unfathomable.
Internationally renowned psychiatrist, Viktor E. Frankl, endured years of unspeakable horror in Nazi death camps. During, and partly because of his suffering, Dr. Frankl developed a revolutionary approach to psychotherapy known as logotherapy. At the core of his theory is the belief that man's primary motivational force is his search for meaning.
This question obsessed Renaissance writers, none more than Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, perhaps the first recognizably modern individual. A nobleman, public official, and winegrower, he wrote free-roaming explorations of his thought and experience, unlike anything written before. He called them essays, meaning “attempts” or “tries.” He put whatever was in his head into them: his tastes in wine and food, his childhood memories, the way his dog’s ears twitched when it was dreaming, as well as the religious wars....
From the author of 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos comes a provocative hypothesis that explores the connection between what modern neuropsychology tells us about the brain and what rituals, myths, and religious stories have long narrated. A cutting-edge work that brings together neuropsychology, cognitive science, and Freudian and Jungian approaches to mythology and narrative, Maps of Meaning presents a rich theory that makes the wisdom and meaning of myth accessible to the critical modern mind.
Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.
Humans live in landscapes of make-believe. We spin fantasies. We devour novels, films, and plays. Even sporting events and criminal trials unfold as narratives. Yet the world of story has long remained an undiscovered and unmapped country. It's easy to say that humans are "wired" for story, but why? In this delightful and original book, Jonathan Gottschall offers the first unified theory of storytelling. He argues that stories help us navigate life's complex social problems.
The Strange Order of Things is a pathbreaking investigation into homeostasis, the condition that regulates human physiology within the range that makes possible not only the survival but also the flourishing of life. Antonio Damasio makes clear that we descend biologically, psychologically, and even socially from a long lineage that begins with single living cells; that our minds and cultures are linked by an invisible thread to the ways and means of ancient unicellular life and other primitive life-forms.
With unequaled insight and brio, David Brooks, the New York Times columnist and best-selling 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 30 years than we had in the previous 3,000.
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.
Finally someone, if not laying out the solution, has written something about the real causes of the unequal access to opportunity in our world. And that it can't all be fixed by throwing money at any one thing. He follows two individuals from polar opposite backgrounds - who eventually join to become a couple - through the course of their lives. One person is from an educated background of privilege, the other is from a multicultural environment of poverty, dislocation and stress. What they both have in common is an intuitive grasp of how to make the decisions which will bring the best outcomes. Each person in tuned in to his/her unconscious (or subconscious?) layer of perception, which has nothing to do with their conscious layers of rational thought - but the two combine to bring success in school, good grades, success in a career, money, accolades. etc. Brooks' thesis is that we have two layers operating in our minds/brains/souls. One is conscious, or rational, the other is unconscious, or emotional. And we are of course mostly unaware of this unconscious layer and how it informs our life choices.
Both these characters lead very successful lives, though as Brooks points out, they are not on the top of any scale of IQ numbers, or list of SAT scores, nor are they "connected" through family in any way. While attractive and pleasing to look at, neither one is "drop dead gorgeous". But their lives are full and rich and successful by any definition of the term. However they listen to their inner guidance, intuitively, mostly unawares, and it is their cues from this subconscious layer which create their best decisions throughout their lives.
I wish he had let us know just how to get this "unconscious" layer to work for us in a positive way all the time!
Great book, great reading, could not put it down. The book is so rich in insight, I am reading it again.
57 of 65 people found this review helpful
Never in my adult life have I listened (or read) a book that so beautifully blended prose and allegory with hard science and self-help. The synthesis is a unified theory of morality, motivation, love, character, politics, and meaning. I am not normally a person who can easily be moved to tears by a book, much less one that is really centered on discussions of Maslow's hierarchy of needs or countless studies of firing amygdala's.
Brooks has long been a favorite NYT Columnist, sharing a coherent and consistent world view without being either doctrinaire or an us-versus-them blowhard like Limbaugh on the right or Krugman on the left. This book follows two fictional characters, Harold and Erica, from birth, childhood, careers, marriage, retirement, and death, revealing how social connection (or lack thereof) drives most humanistic endeavors. This insight would not be so groundbreaking, but revealing the how and the why through the prism of the beautiful Harold and Erica love story is where Brooks excels.
As if all of this were not enough, the humor propels this book from being just "Really Good" to being "One for the Ages". A sampling:
"He’s just back from China and stopping by for a corporate board meeting on his way to a five-hundred-mile bike-a-thon to support the fight against lactose intolerance. He is asexually handsome, with a little less body fat than Michelangelo’s David. As he crosses his legs, you observe that they are immeasurably long and slender. He doesn’t really have thighs. Each leg is just one elegant calf on top of another. His voice is so calm and measured that he makes Barack Obama sound like Sam Kinison. He met his wife at the Clinton Global Initiative, where they happened to be wearing the same Doctors Without Borders support bracelets"
Buy this book! You will be immeasurably enriched.
12 of 14 people found this review helpful
David Brooks starts out with a promising idea and, in the second half, turns his idea into a complete hodgepodge.
Mr. Brooks is an astute columnist and a keen observer of the history of social theory. He is definitely not a novelist. His characters, particularly in the later chapters, fall apart into cardboard cut-outs and soap cast members.
I almost gave up but stuck it out to the bitter end.
I would not recommend this book.
16 of 21 people found this review helpful
What made the experience of listening to The Social Animal the most enjoyable?
It follows the protagonist from birth to death, presenting many examples of our pains and joys throughout, and explains many psychological theories in easy to understand ways.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
If you could sum up The Social Animal in three words, what would they be?
Illustrative, synopsis, narrative
What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?
The book does a nice job of portraying a cohesive image of the current understanding of social neuroscience
Any additional comments?
The book takes some narrative liberties in interpreting research. Much if the evidence and research in this field is isolated and incomplete. The author takes a few unjustified leaps in his implied understanding.
NOTE: cognitive and social neuroscience is a very young field, we do not have as complete or concrete understanding as the author implies.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
David Brooks in The Social Animal provides the reader with a basic understanding of evolutionary psychology and its interpretation of how we develop character, are affected by our emotions, and how we interact with one another. Throughout the book, he applies insights from neuroscience to our (evolutionary) psychological tendencies. From my perspective, the book’s most valuable chapters come near the end when Brooks applies what he has presented to moral development and ethical reasoning. There is a lot here to admire and a lot to trouble anyone interested in actual and prospective human behavior. Shifting from Freudian psychology to a Darwinian/evolutionary psychology will disturb me for days. Applying that thinking to the human condition and personal living is personally revolutionary. The world will change again as this perspective takes hold. The reading of Author Morey is excellent.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful
The novel is a jumble of the distillation of science we get in news today (which is of no surprise, since Brooks is a contributer to this dumbing down and scintillation of research as a columnist). He makes some interesting observations, but they are all idease plagiarized by other pop-culture writers of our time. The beginning of the novel was fairly good
The characters served no point in creating interest in the subject matter other than as a false pretext to lay out Brooks' synopses of studies he has cobbled together from a multitude of sources from elementary textbook researchers to pop-cultural researchers. It is obvious he did his work for this book by reading popular news articles on science, without real criticism of it.
In addition, he refutes notions of systematic racism and sexism in our country and attributes it entirely to failures of cultures to promote work ethic, with sparse obscure studies, none of which come to the conclusions he does.
The addition of characters to the story is ridiculous at best and offensive at worst, with his anecdotal suggestion for how minorities in poor school systems can climb out of poverty is through violence with school administrators in order to get into charter schools.
I gave the audiobook 2 stars because the narrator was really quite good.
12 of 18 people found this review helpful
This book was just interesting enough to keep me from turning it off and just pointless enough to allow me to remember anything significant about it. What the author was trying to do here was a mystery to me.
7 of 11 people found this review helpful
Another lunatic trying to push a hidden agenda. I got 6 minutes and 45 seconds into the book and had to discontinue after two "belief in God" promotions. Lesson learned. Research the author more carefully before purchasing a book even if it has high rating.
20 of 33 people found this review helpful
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.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful
really enjoyed this book. shame the references can't be offered. unsure how it would work.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Any additional comments?
An excellent knowledge fountain of the insights of human mind. Almost half through it, and I really enjoy it. It is filled with life lessons if you really pay attention to the details. I do recommend
This whole book is just a list of statistics - and quite a few of them outdated ones. The author tells it like these statistics are facts about human nature when they are in the main just manipulated numbers. There are lots of boring stereotype views about the differences between men and women. I couldn't listen to the whole book so I'm not sure how the love, character and achievement come into it. All I heard was statistics and a contempt for other people.
4 of 9 people found this review helpful
please do yourself a service and listen to this book. If you want to gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your mind go no further.
As a female reader I would question a few of the statements made, but overall a very interesting and insightful read into the human condition.
Would you consider the audio edition of The Social Animal to be better than the print version?
yes
What other book might you compare The Social Animal to, and why?
Brain Rules by John Medina. similar practical approach
What does Arthur Morey bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
the perfect voice for the writer
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
it made me think and apply situations to myself
Any additional comments?
modern and informative view on us and social psychology. i enjoyed every minute