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Emotional intelligence is now embedded in our public discourse: an idea so pervasive and important in our work, culture, politics and society. Daniel Goleman's bestselling book Emotional Intelligence was the first to coin this idea and bring it to a mass audience. Now, more than a quarter of a century after it was first published, he and Rutgers professor of psychology Cary Cherniss take a fresh look at how emotional intelligence has evolved over the past few decades, reframing its importance in this definitive book.

Optimization is the driving principle of our modern world. We now can manufacture, transport, and organize things more cheaply and faster than ever. Optimized models underlie everything from airline schedules to dating site matches. We strive for efficiency in our daily lives, obsessed with productivity and optimal performance. How did a mathematical concept take on such outsize cultural shape? And what is lost when efficiency is gained? Optimal Illusions traces the fascinating history of optimization from its roots in America’s founding principles to its modern manifestations.

During his 20 years as a Navy SEAL, Commander Rich Diviney was intimately involved in the world-renowned SEAL selection process, which whittles exceptional candidates down to a small cadre of the most elite optimal performers. But Diviney was often surprised by which recruits washed out and which succeeded. Someone could have all the right skills and still fail, while recruits he might have initially dismissed would prove to be top performers. The seemingly objective criteria weren't telling him what he most needed to know: who could be part of the world's most elite military unit?