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    The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement
    Unavailable
    The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement
    Unavailable
    The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement
    Audiobook16 hours

    The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement

    Written by David Brooks

    Narrated by Arthur Morey

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMar 8, 2011
    ISBN9780307739018
    Unavailable
    The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement
    Author

    David Brooks

    David Brooks writes a biweekly Op-Ed column for The New York Times and appears regularly on PBS's The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and NPR's All Things Considered. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

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    Reviews for The Social Animal

    4/5

    223 ratings28 reviews

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    • 5/5
      David Brooks thinks and feels much as I do and have learned that others do...when healthy
    • 3/5
      Very nice overview of current research about humans as social animals. It seemed somewhat light in the areas I know the best but I understand it is not possible to go into into detail about every aspect of life.
    • 3/5
      An interesting, but somewhat aimless and disconnected book. Some interesting analysis of non-cognitive skills, but a not much of a deeper analysis.
    • 5/5
      A fascinating read - very dense but always thought provoking. I think to maximize my understanding and grasp of all the material this will call for multiple readings. I do look forward to each of them - as I will reading his other books. His measured and insightful political commentary have always been enjoyable and enlightening - now I can say the same about this book.
    • 5/5
      An interesting telling of the origin of many social divides and societal problems told through the fictional story of two people's lives, from before conception to death, and connecting them to research about psychology, sociology, and medical research.The failures of imposed democracies, achievement gaps, and the polarization of politics are examined as part of this book.
    • 4/5
      Author David Brooks uses the lives of fictional characters Harold and Erica -- from birth to death -- as an vehicle to present research, and findings, on why humans are the way we are. The characters (and their parents before them) seem to be perpetually living in the modern day, though. If you like Malcolm Gladwell (in fact his works are referenced a few times here) and books such as Freakonomics, you'll probably enjoy this book. I did.
    • 4/5
      The book is odd, amounting to a psychological analysis of two fictional characters, Erica and Harold. Their development, from birth to adulthood to old age, is chronicled in a story of personal and professional successes, mistakes, failures, and problem solving. At times the author seems to try overly hard to make the characters' stories seem mainstream, and this makes parts of the book awkward and painful to read. Yet, in explaining why Harold and Erica do what they do, the book's psychology lessons are informative and often very interesting.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the best books I have ever listened to! Brooks seamlessly blends fiction and non-fiction in an artful and engaging way. I hope to access many more books with this style in the future.
    • 5/5
      David Brooks did a remarkable thing with this book. He took the science, statistics and theories behind psychology and human development, and presented it in way that made it more interesting to follow, and easier to recall after reading. He told a story about two characters, Harold and Erica, from early childhood, to old age and death. This is not a novel. Harold and Erica's stories would be bland without the extensive discussions of human nature, education, sociology, etc. that accompany every event of their lives. The subject matter is the psychology - the characters are the vehicle to deliver the information, cover every stage of our lives, and help us to recall the information after reading it. Harold and Erica's entire lives take place in the present day, at the time of the writing. Harold is born in our present. He is in high school in our present. He has his career in our present and he lives out his retirement in our present. Personally, i learned a great deal from The Social Animal. It is one of the few books I can say for certain that I will read again to absorb more.
    • 4/5
      Filled with information, this book is fascinating in many places. I would like to reread it so I could process the ideas better, though it is uneven in places.
    • 5/5
      .. our family is finding this very interesting.I love the format. i really enjoy reading this and then watching our babies to see what's discussed happening right before my eyes. I am also discovering some things about myself to think about. There are FOUR of us all reading our own copy of this book in my close family....it is VERY INTERESTING.
    • 4/5
      In his new book David Brooks illustrates the social sciences through the lives of two fictional characters, Harold and Erica, who grow up, fall in love and build a life together. It's not a novel and it's not a textbook in the traditional sense. I expected the fictional storyline to get in the way of the book I really wanted to read but I was surprise by how much I enjoyed that particular plot device.The greatest point I took away from the The Social Animal is probably how irrational we often are as humans. Entire industries are built around the notion of humans acting rational most of the time and it simply isn't true. That same irrationality is also what gives our lives that unique flavor of unpredictability.
    • 4/5
      A well-written if not overwhelming analysis of many of the current understandings of the complexity of human actions, attitudes, motivations, especially as they relate to man as a social character and the interactions within and between the conscious and the unconscious mind. Brooks uses the vehicle of a man and a woman continually in the present and how their characters develop on the basis of the complicated interactions between genetics, upbringing, culture, and life events. He takes many opportunities to step out of the narrative to explain the science, psychology, and/or philosophy behind the character's presentation.Overall a very well-argued presentation re-affirming the holistic nature of man and provides many correctives to continuously promoted misunderstandings of human mind and behavior. It would probably have been better if Brooks had masked his political views more in the political section, but overall it is certainly worth consideration.
    • 5/5
      "Social Animal" is a deep and thought-provoking book. That said, it is not a difficult book to read, but the ideas presented are so interesting that it took me longer to read this book than any I've read in the past two years. It was so interesting, I had to read (or listen because I had both versions) to a segment, and then go away and let that sink in.Brooks gives us two individuals, Harold and Erica, whom he follows from pre-conception to death, showing us how their genetics, their environments, and their life choices influence how they think, relate to others, and ultimately succeed or fail in various phases of their lives. It is fascinating reading, so much so that although I borrowed this from the library, I have it on my "to buy" list, waiting until the paperback comes out so I can mark it up with all kinds of comments, like a college text book.There are so many concepts presented that it might have been a confusing mishmash, but Brooks' singular ability to weave them together in a coherent, flowing narrative is the true strength of the book. That same bombardment of new (to me) ideas makes it difficult for us non-sociologists to write a cogent review.We follow Harold and Erica as we learn how much babies know at birth, as Brooks explains humans' inheriting a flow of information, which he characterizes into patterns:=from deep in our evolutionary past = genetics=from thousands of years ago = religion=from hundreds of years ago = culture=from decades ago = familyand from years months, days, hours ago = education and adviceBy presenting us with two people from different cultural backgrounds, (Harold is from a two parent WASP family, Erica is the product of a single oriental mother and Hispanic father) he is able to weave in theories of cultural differences in physical ailments, brain patterns, geographic languages (e.g., "raise your right hand" vs. "raise your hand east") and myriad other tidbits of learning, bombarding us with notions that make infinite sense, and produce "AHA" moments many of us never spent any time dwelling upon.Here's just one example of his nuggets of provocation:"The people in the executive suite believed that the school existed to fulfill some socially productive process of information transmission, usually involving science projects on poster boards, but in reality of course, high school is a machine for social sorting. The purpose of high school is to give young people a sense of where they fit into the social structure."The story of Harold and Erica as they meet, fall in love, marry, climb the corporate ladder, branch out on separate career paths, and ultimately retire together, is enchanting, challenging, interesting, and one that is sure to make the reader stop and think. "Social Animal" is a work that bears reading and re-reading. It may not be a life-changer, but it is certainly going to be a life-enhancer for many.
    • 5/5
      The Social Animal is a fascinating non-fiction book. It is about how we make decisions about ourselves, others, and the choices we encounter. It is how we achieve success and how we define success. It presents a lot of research about how quickly we make judgments and how resistant we are to changing our judgments. It talks about how much we let our subconscious make decisions for us and how some people overrule their subconscious. He talks about what character is, how it can be molded and changed. Most of this isn't just stuff that he believes. He cites research to back it up. Fascinating.If you love Pop Psychology and Sociology (as I do!!), then you'll love this book. It has proven to be very controversial among the so called experts so Mr. Brooks must be on to something. I am not qualified to pass judgement on his conclusions but I found him to be very insightful. I am not into building a personal library but I may keep this one. I will loan it out though, or you can to the library. If you buy, get a coupon.I rate this this book 4.5 stars out of 5. I don't rate too many books that high. Get it, read it, tell us what you think.
    • 4/5
      An interesting look at why we do the things we do, based on the chemical and physical makeup of our bodies, told in a narrative anchored around the story of a family with children coming of age and ageing themselves. This novel approach takes subject matter that could be quite dry, and makes it a surprisingly interesting book. A little contrived, in spots, it's a good read.
    • 4/5
      An unusual piece of nonfiction by the popular NYT Op Ed columnist blends nonfiction (psychology, neuroscience) to tell the life story of a successful and influential couple--how they learn and make choices, and how these practices affect their lives. Packed with so much information and references that it needs a few readings. A great read for educators.
    • 5/5
      This book book is supurb at explaining the way people learn, form opinions, and make decisions. It is written clearly, is interesting, any we all can learn from it. For me, this book explains why some people have much different opinions on topics when we both have the same data and often, nearly the same experience level witht he topic. An example is the rating on this book. Most people are rating it average while I rate it high. Mr. Brooks explains why we have those differences, and how difficult it can be for most of us to change our opinions.Mr. Brooks starts with an overview than begans explaing the learning process from an infant through adult. Along the way, he shows the reader how our opinions are mostly formed in the subconcious mind prior to most logical thinking and how strongly the subconcious influences the outcome of those opinions.This is very good reading for anyone who has been frustrated in trying to get others to see their viewpoint, or to change opinions on any topic.
    • 3/5
      David Brooks attempts to synthesize research on the brain and sociology in a story about two characters, Erica and Harald. At first, I was excited about the prospect of reading through the lives of these two characters and how this would weave in with some impressive research. There were many parts in the book where you were just longing to get back to the main characters and get out of the endless barrage of scientific tidbits that had little depth. The book did, however, provide a lot of interesting insights and attempted to address some very interesting topics which were appreciated. The format is interesting and I hope to see someone else tackle writing such a book with better success.
    • 5/5
      I "read" this book as an audio book. I gave it 5 stars because it fascinated me from the beginning. But the main reason is that I probably experienced the most moving words I have experienced in my life so far at the end of this book. The book follows two fictional characters, Harold and Erica and explains what life is about and what influences we get and have etc. It is quite complex and to get a real good understanding of the topic I might listen to it again.
      When we come to the end of the book and to the end of one of the characters life the passing away is described from the person's perspective. This was one of the most moving things I experienced when reading a book. It might be mainly because we followed this person from birth through their whole life.
      The description of the person's death from this perspective gave me a huge emotional shock. It kind of woke me up and I think I will have this image in in my mind for a long time. David Brooks manages to describe the thoughts which might go through our mind in the minute we die.
    • 4/5
      This is a book that looks that the sciences that concern the human mind and behaviours. But it is written looking at a couple of fictional characters called Harold and Erica, and pauses at points in their lives to consider the sciences behind the assumptions.

      The science parts are therefore very good, written with clarity at the current best understanding of the way the brain works and the way society and people function. I did find the fictional account of the couple a little bit twee, and was not always relevant.
    • 2/5
      I listened to this as an audiobook. This was a huge pain because it expired before I'd finished, then I had to order it again and wait for it to become available. Then I upgraded my computer and had to download it yet again, so although I've given it just two stars, the story was engaging enough for me to want to finish it.

      Unfortunately, the guy who reads the audiobook sounds like one of those automatic voices. It's not, but it's close enough!

      I'm treating this book as a work of fiction rather than science, and I did enjoy the fictionalised lives of Erica and Harold. But I am sceptical of a lot of the scientific anecdotes, especially the ones about how men and women are innately different.

      While I can accept that a fictionalised story about two characters is an interesting way to teach the results of various research, I was also wary after realising that in fact, the book is also a vehicle for the author to espouse his own political views. I disagree with him on some of those, in particular his suggestion that teachers should be paid on merit to attract the best ones. This doesn't work.

    • 2/5
      I had high expectations of this book. I enjoy learning about human social behavior and in this book, Brooks presents it through the story of Harold and Erica, two fictionalized characters. Since I'm more of a fiction lover vs. non-fiction I thought this would be a perfect blend. Unfortunately, the characters are pretty two dimensional making their story not that interesting. But by presenting research or observations through these characters, I couldn't really tell what was a true studied social behavior vs. something made up just to suit the story. Definitely some of the observations were interesting, but it lacked the overall impact of a good non-fiction book and was definitely not worth reading as far as the lives of Harold and Erica.
    • 5/5
      A fascinating read - very dense but always thought provoking. I think to maximize my understanding and grasp of all the material this will call for multiple readings. I do look forward to each of them - as I will reading his other books. His measured and insightful political commentary have always been enjoyable and enlightening - now I can say the same about this book.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the best books I have ever listened to! Brooks seamlessly blends fiction and non-fiction in an artful and engaging way. I hope to access many more books with this style in the future.
    • 4/5
      Brooks uses the lives of fictional characters (Harold and Erica) as a skeleton to hang research findings from the fields of neuroscience and psychology. For instance, when Harold is born the book covers themes from child psychology and the emotional effects of being a new mother. When Erica goes through childhood in a lower-class neighborhood the book pulls in sociological research on how class effects child development. There are hundreds of references like this from all stages of Harold and Erica’s lives, from birth and adolescence to love and marriage and finally to old age and death. This makes the book very broad in scope, so broad that after I finished reading it I wasn’t really sure what its focus was and had to go back over all my highlights to remember the numerous areas the author touched upon.I would agree with some other reviewers that the fictional story that the scientific tidbits are hung on is not all that compelling, and that the scientific tidbits are not described in depth. At times I also grew tired of the repetitive “tell part of the story – cite some research” motif. There were also places where the fiction appeared forced just for the sake of zeroing in on a particular study. But the author’s goal, as he states in the opening pages, was to synthesize the last 30 years of research on the mind into a single narrative, and use that narrative to help his readers understand human nature. I think he was successful at doing this. I also think that organizing the vast amount of research about the human mind around the lives of fictional characters seems quite natural. After all, our minds are not static, but develop through time. The research on child development, emotions, stress, aging, etc. aligns nicely with how Harold and Erica’s lives unfold.Overall I enjoyed the book and it sparked some good conversations with another friend who was reading it at the same time. While I typically read more focused books it is nice to get a broad brush view at times. I invariably find areas I’ve never encountered before and new authors to read.
    • 3/5
      David Brooks attempts to synthesize research on the brain and sociology in a story about two characters, Erica and Harald. At first, I was excited about the prospect of reading through the lives of these two characters and how this would weave in with some impressive research. There were many parts in the book where you were just longing to get back to the main characters and get out of the endless barrage of scientific tidbits that had little depth. The book did, however, provide a lot of interesting insights and attempted to address some very interesting topics which were appreciated. The format is interesting and I hope to see someone else tackle writing such a book with better success.
    • 5/5
      I heard David Brooks talk about this book in an interview on the PBS Newshour. I try to watch Newshour on Friday because he’s on the show giving his perspective on the week’s political events and controversies. Although he’s supposed to be a pundit on the right/conservative side and I am usually more left/liberal, I find his comments to be well thought out – and he’s just as willing to call out one side when they do something stupid as he is the other. So I was interested in what his book was about.Although The Social Animal eventually gets into a bit of political philosophizing near the end, it’s really about our brains and especially how our unconscious/sub-conscious mind influences the choices we make. To structure the book, he tells the life stories of two fictional characters, Howard and Erica. At various points in their lives, he points out what’s going on in their brains and how that affects their decision -- and he reviews relevant scientific studies to enlighten readers. Without that device, the book could have been a hopeless, inaccessible hodgepodge of information. But I found it fascinating and finished it in three days. David Brooks appears to be a “big picture” guy – a bit like Malcolm Gladwell, who wrote The Tipping Point and writes for the New Yorker. I LOVE Malcolm Gladwell’s writing, so my comparing him to David Brooks is a big compliment. I read a review of The Social Animal in the Wall Street Journal by a professional social scientist (who also invoked the name of Malcolm Gladwell in his review) who picked apart the book and accused David Brooks of sloppy research, disregarding studies that didn’t agree with his thesis, and mentioning studies that have not been replicated by other researchers (GASP!).If Mr. Brooks had written the book the reviewer wanted him to, I’m afraid it wouldn’t have been very interesting or enlightening to a general reader. Intelligent readers don’t swallow everything in any book and realize that authors have points of view. Give us some credit!!!The Social Animal was very readable, thought-provoking, and will stimulate conversation among people who have read it and maybe among those who haven’t. I breezed through it the first time, but will read it again, although probably not page by page. The index is so comprehensive, that it will be easy to dip into memorable sections again. And there are lots of those.