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Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst Reprint Edition, Kindle Edition

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 8,583 ratings

Why do we do the things we do?

Over 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 genetic inheritance.

And so the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. What goes on in a person's brain a second before the behavior happens? Then he pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell triggers the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones act hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli which trigger the nervous system? By now, he has increased our field of vision so that we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened.

Sapolsky keeps going--next to what features of the environment affected that person's brain, and then back to the childhood of the individual, and then to their genetic makeup. Finally, he expands the view to encompass factors larger than that one individual. How culture has shaped that individual's group, what ecological factors helped shape that culture, and on and on, back to evolutionary factors thousands and even millions of years old.

The result is one of the most dazzling tours de horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do...for good and for ill. Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, Behave is a towering achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own right.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

One of The Washington Post's 10 Best Books of 2017

"Sapolsky has created an immensely readable, often hilarious romp through the multiple worlds of psychology, primatology, sociology and neurobiology to explain why we behave the way we do. It is hands-down one of the best books I’ve read in years. I loved it." —
Dina Temple-Raston, The Washington Post

“It’s no exaggeration to say that
Behave is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read.” —David P. Barash, The Wall Street Journal

“A quirky, opinionated and magisterial synthesis of psychology and neurobiology that integrates this complex subject more accessibly and completely than ever . . .  a wild and mind-opening ride into a better understanding of just where our behavior comes from. Darwin would have been thrilled.” —Richard Wrangham, The New York Times Book Review

“[Sapolskly’s] new book is his magnum opus, but is also strikingly different from his earlier work, veering sharply toward hard science as it looms myriad strands of his ruminations on human behavior. The familiar, enchanting Sapolsky tropes are here—his warm, witty voice, a sleight of hand that unfolds the mysteries of cognition—but Behave keeps the bar high . . . . A stunning achievement and an invaluable addition to the canon of scientific literature, certain to kindle debate for years to come.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A masterly cross-disciplinary scientific study of human behavior: What in our glands, our genes, our childhoods explains our species’ capacity for both altruism and brutality? This comprehensive and friendly survey of a ‘big sprawling mess of a subject’ is leavened by an impressive data-to-silly joke ratio. It has my vote for science book of the year.” —
Parul Sehgal, New York Times

“A monumental contribution to the scientific understanding of human behavior that belongs on every bookshelf and many a course syllabus . . . It is a magnificent culmination of integrative thinking, on par with similar authoritative works, such as Jared Diamond’s
Guns, Germs, and Steel and Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature.” —Michael Shermer, American Scholar

Behave is the best detective story ever written, and the most important. If you've ever wondered why someone did something—good or bad, vicious or generous—you need to read this book. If you think you already know why people behave as they do, you need to read this book. In other words, everybody needs to read it. It should be available on prescription (side effects: chronic laughter; highly addictive). They should put Behave in hotel rooms instead of the Bible: the world would be a much better, wiser place” —Kate Fox, author of Watching the English

“Magisterial . . . This extraordinary survey of the science of human behaviour takes the reader on an epic journey . . . Sapolsky makes the book consistently entertaining, with an infectious excitement at the puzzles he explains . . . a miraculous synthesis of scholarly domains.”
—Steven Poole, The Guardian

“Rarely does an almost 800-page book keep my attention from start to finish, but if anyone can save evolutionary biology from TED talkers and pop-science fabulists, it might be Sapolsky . . . . Behave ranges at great length from moral philosophy to social science, genetics to Sapolsky’s home turf of neurons and hormones—but all of it is aimed squarely at the question of why humans are so awful to each other, and whether the condition is terminal.” Vulture

“Robert Sapolsky's students must love him. In
Behave, the primatologist, neurologist and science communicator writes like a teacher: witty, erudite and passionate about clear communication. You feel like a lucky auditor in a fast-paced undergraduate course, where the implications of fascinating scientific findings are illuminated through topical stories and pop-culture allusions.” Nature 

“Sapolsky’s book shows in exquisite detail how culture, context and learning shape everything our genes, brains, hormones and neurons do.” Times Literary Supplement

Behave is like a great historical novel, with excellent prose and encyclopedic detail. It traces the most important story that can ever be told.” —Edward O. Wilson

“Truly all-encompassing . . . detailed, accessible, fascinating.”
The Telegraph

“A wide-ranging, learned survey of all the making-us-tick things that, for better or worse, define us as human . . . . An exemplary work of popular science, challenging but accessible.”
Kirkus Reviews, starred

“[Sapolsky] weaves science storytelling with humor . . . . [His] big ideas deserve a wide audience and will likely shape thinking for some time.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[Sapolsky] does an excellent job of bringing together the expansive literature of thousands of fascinating studies with clarity and humor . . . . A tour-de-force.”
Library Journal (starred review)

“Sapolsky finds not the high moral drama of the soul choosing good or evil but rather down-to-earth biology . . . a remarkably encyclopedic survey of the sciences illuminating human conduct.”
Booklist(starred review)

“Read Robert Sapolsky’s marvelous book
Behave and you’ll never again be surprised by the range and depth of our own bad behavior. We all carry the potential for unconscious biases, to be damaged by our childhoods and map that damage onto our own loved ones, and to form the tribal ‘Us’ groups that treat outsiders as lesser ‘Thems.’ But to read this book is also, marvelously, to be given the hope that we have much more control of those behaviors than we think. And Behave gives us more than hope—it gives us the knowledge of how to act on that aspiration, to manifest more of our best selves and less of our worst, individually and as a society. That’s very good news indeed.”  —Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better

"As wide as it is deep, this book is colorful, electrifying, and moving. Sapolsky leverages his deep expertise to ask the most fundamental questions about being human
from acts of hate to acts of love, from our compulsion to dehumanize to our capacity to rehumanize." —David Eagleman, PhD, neuroscientist at Stanford, author, presenter of PBS's The Brain
 
"
Behave is a beautifully crafted work about the biology of morality. Sapolsky makes multiple passes at the target, using different time scales and systems. He shows you how all the perspectives and systems connect, and he makes you laugh and marvel along the way. Sapolsky is not just a leading primatologist; he’s a great writer and a superb guide to human nature." —Jonathan Haidt, New York University, author of The Righteous Mind

“This is a miraculous book, by far the best treatment of violence, aggression, and competition ever.  It ranges from how neurons and hormones interact, how emotions are an essential part of decision making, why adolescents are more likely to be violent than adults, why genes influence cultures and vice-versa, and the ins and outs of “we versus them,” all the way to “live and let live” truces in World War I and the My Lai massacre. Its depth and breadth of scholarship are amazing, building on Sapolsky’s own research and his vast knowledge of the neurobiology, genetic, and behavioral literature. For instance,
Behave includes fair evaluations of complex debates (like over sociobiology) that I was involved in, and tackles controversial questions such as whether our hunter-gatherer ancestors warred on each other. He even takes on “free will” with a clarity usually absent from the writings of philosophers on the subject. All this is done brilliantly with a light and funny touch that shows why Sapolsky is recognized as one of the greatest teachers in science today.” —Paul R. Ehrlich, author of Human Natures

About the Author

Robert M. Sapolsky is the author of several works of nonfiction, including A Primate’s MemoirThe Trouble with Testosterone, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, and Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will. He is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant.” He and his wife live in San Francisco.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01IAUGC5S
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Reprint edition (May 2, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 2, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 39656 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 798 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 8,583 ratings

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Robert M. Sapolsky
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Robert M. Sapolsky is the author of several works of nonfiction, including A Primate's Memoir, The Trouble with Testosterone, and Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers. He is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation genius grant. He lives in San Francisco.

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4.7 out of 5 stars
8,583 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book informative and meaningful. They appreciate the clear, concise writing style that makes the material readable. The humor and wit make the science engaging. Readers describe the book as thoughtfully presented in a beautiful and sensitive way. The author's empathy and multi-disciplinary approach to incidents and decisions are appreciated. Opinions differ on the pacing - some find it worth reading slowly and thoroughly, while others say it takes time to finish reading.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

305 customers mention "Information quality"261 positive44 negative

Customers find the book insightful and informative on human behavior. They describe it as an excellent scholarly work grounded in neuroscience and human physiology. The book provides a combination of material from various subjects, all of which are non-trivial.

"...It covers everthing! The Chapters start with The Behavior, One Second Before, Second to Minutes Before, . . . Centuries to Millenia Before . . ...." Read more

"...The connection between us humans and other animals was profoundly moving and I loved the last half of the book as Sapolsky explains major themes of..." Read more

"...Behave is a pretty remarkable book. It is a combination of material from so many subjects, all of which are non-trivial, and it is put together..." Read more

"...This is also the recurring analytical framework he uses to present each chapter introduced on page 6: A behavior has just occurred...." Read more

167 customers mention "Writing style"118 positive49 negative

Customers find the writing style clear and concise, making the content more readable. They appreciate the author's insights and humor that make the subjects easy to understand. The book is logically coherent, with sections that are witty and approachable.

"...Sapolsky is a great writer! The text is clearly presented by someone with a firm grasp on the tree of knowledge and how to pass it on...." Read more

"...approach, seems to be politically neutral, and is easier to read by a logarithmic magnitude. And the same wisdom is half the price...." Read more

"...So much unnecessary suffering. This was a really long book and took me months to finish. But was really so much worth the effort...." Read more

"It is clear, although you need a fast contextual update to enjoy it!!..." Read more

98 customers mention "Humor"98 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the humor in the book. They find it engaging, especially in the footnotes and the writing style itself. The author injects humor into complex paragraphs with witty insights and metaphors. The writing style is clear and easy to read, making the subjects easy to understand.

"...There are many noted os a personal nature, usually with a wonderful sense of humor...." Read more

"Sapolsky is witty, intelligent and quite knowledgeable of his subject matter...." Read more

"...Although many of his numerous footnotes are witty and/or informative, his basic style is to (1) set up a strawman argument he wants to refute, (2)..." Read more

"...The writing is creative and entertaining as are his lectures. There is adequate sourcing for follow up if so inclined...." Read more

29 customers mention "Style"29 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's style engaging and readable. They praise the thoughtful presentation of science in an enlightening way that illuminates how the brain works. The author's unique style makes scientific material very readable and captivating.

"...The nice tone and style together with the scientific link made this book very useful to me!!!!" Read more

"...help bring the science of the brain to life in ways that are simultaneously striking, enthralling, uplifting, and depressing...." Read more

"...He artfully conveys meaningful, relevant understanding and context for the hopelessly complex topic of what drives human behavior...." Read more

"...Sapolsky’s style is engaging and lucid, but the material he’s presenting had a deep effect on the way I see myself and others, and on my hopes for..." Read more

17 customers mention "Empathy"12 positive5 negative

Customers appreciate the author's empathy and thoughtfulness. They find it insightful and a multi-disciplinary approach to incidents and decisions. The book is serious yet humorous, with an excellent rhythm. It helps explain a near-fatal event.

"...He is utterly humane, brilliant, and often funny...." Read more

"...and the writing style feels very much like the way he speaks - emphatically and with excellent rhythm...." Read more

"...This is not a detectives novel so what's the point in not commenting what's there for everyone of us?..." Read more

"...It's a good book on violent behavior, but little else in 790 pages." Read more

24 customers mention "Pacing"14 positive10 negative

Customers have different views on the pacing of the book. Some find it fast-paced and thought-provoking, while others say it takes time to finish reading and struggles with the topics.

"File this book along with Thinking, Fast and Slow, Sapiens, and Predictably Irrational, the triumvirate of texts I’ve read in the past two years..." Read more

"...This was a really long book and took me months to finish. But was really so much worth the effort. I highly recommend this book to all humans." Read more

"...the book is written in a style that is both friendly and accessible to the general reader...." Read more

"...in the first few chapters (which he confesses to) but then the pace picks up...." Read more

19 customers mention "Difficulty level"8 positive11 negative

Customers have different views on the book's difficulty level. Some find it complex and fascinating, with an excellent job of explaining complex dynamics. Others consider it a slog and repetitive, with information that can be difficult to understand.

"...This book is not easy and the material it covers is from many technical subjects which are then interwoven...." Read more

"...He does an excellent job explicating these complex dynamics. 800 pages, so fascinating, it flows like a 250 page novel." Read more

"...It's a slog, often repetitive, and frustrating as all hell at times. But entertaining and eye opening. Grab it and settle in for a long, long time." Read more

"...I'm a huge Sapolsky fan, but this was a big beast of an undertaking...." Read more

19 customers mention "Material quality"13 positive6 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's material quality. Some find it well-structured and put together, while others report issues like tears, bent pages, and damaged spine.

"...so many subjects, all of which are non-trivial, and it is put together remarkably well...." Read more

"Great read and awesome book quality" Read more

"The book completely fell apart which makes me sad because I loved reading it! Have never had a book fall apart before...." Read more

"The book was in good condition. But it looks like the first few pages were crimped when packed." Read more

Simply one of the best I've read ever
5 out of 5 stars
Simply one of the best I've read ever
It took me twelve days to read this book. I'm a Chilean reader so my English is no native and it's hard for me to understand everything, but this book deserved to retry any time I couldn't catch the entire meaning of a sentence or an idea. Robert Sapolsky writes as a lecturer. The reader is seated in the classroom and he's the professor who talks, so you feel very comfortable listening him and, more than that, you feel welcome by him. He's so natural and informal that you feel that a distance has been abolished, and this is just what is needed to capture the very essence of this tremendous achievement.The book is about "us" and "them," and how our biology has modeled us to to replicate and to live this duality as an inexorable destiny. That's the reason why Sapolsky in a very smart design of the book dedicates the thirteen first (out of seventeen) chapters in describing to you how does our brains (and by extension our biology) to produce a human being with all that it means. And it means a lot. More than I can say here. Thus, the first thirteen chapters of the book leave you with the sensation that we are all design to be just the way we are. So nothing to be much optimistic here.There's (for me at least) a tipping point in the book that synthesizes everything. It is in page 448 and shows you a graph that plots the "proportion of rulings in favor of the prisoners by ordinal position [i.e., the order in which they were heard by the judge]," with "points [indicating] the first decision in each of the three decisions sessions." Well, the thing is that "in a study of more than 1,100 judicial rulings, prisoners were granted parole at about a 60 percent rate when judges had recently eaten, and at essentially a 0 percent rate just before judges ate... Justice may be blind, but she's sure sensitive to her stomach gurgling."Well, there you are. And this is just one example, there are dozens before and after indicating how sensible we are to the environment, the internal and the external one, something that Sapolsky summarize at the end of the book: "...we haven't evolved to be "selfish" or "altruistic" or anything else--we've evolved to be particular ways in particular settings. Context, context, context."As long as you read you think that the book was written to let you know how remarkably open AND close is our nature, in such a way that we are condemned to suffer our tremendous limitations: there is no way out (or in). Yes, as Sapolsky says, it's complicated. In fact, that could have been the title of the book. But that would have lessened the final chapters which are like the cracks in the wall through which a silver lining filters. The thing is that you didn't expect what Sapolsky tells you there.This is not a detectives novel so what's the point in not commenting what's there for everyone of us? Well, I guess that the point is I shouldn't deprive you of discovering by yourself as I did. Yes, I'm talking here of the pleasure that renders the experience of something that sounds (even in a scientific manner) like a revelation. And that is: at the end of the book you see...I'm sure that other reviewers have revealed everything in order to criticize some points here and there. I guess that could be several, but to me that's not the point. The point is that Behave has not been written to convince you, not at all. Behave has been written to show you. Behave is not a book is a window as I suppose any great book is.As I said, I'm Chilean and here, in my country, are hundreds of political prisoners that haven't the minimal chance of being paroled. Not even that light ray that could traverse a crack in a wall. Not even that. They have no chance. Unfortunately this book is not going to be translated to Spanish. And if it is, it's not going to arrive to our commercial and poor (intellectually speaking) bookstores. My country is a very quiet one compared with the rest of the world. Nobody even notice it, so quiet it is. We are like Switzerland bur without the money. And with the political prisoners they don't have.Sapolsky it's not going to change nothing, but that's not the point, I insist: the point is that things are going to change anyway because history tells so. The thing is that we could do something to hurry the future. I don't know how. Sapolsky either. And what about you?Read this book if you are interested into thinking how does it feel not to be the good guy you think you are most of the time. In a sentence: how does it feel to be human.And it feels good.Five highly deserved stars.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2018
    Behave is a sweeping and in depth accounting of the neurobiology of humans. It covers everthing! The Chapters start with The Behavior, One Second Before, Second to Minutes Before, . . . Centuries to Millenia Before . . . Us Versus Them . . . Morality . . . Epilogue

    So many big topics are covered in this book! I've picked some themes that resonated with my current understanding of what it is to be human. These are represented by some scant notes of mine clearly labeled as [jch note:s]. All quoted text is verbatum from the book, with p.Page number.

    Resonating Themes: It's complicated! (Addressing Nature v. Nurture), Us v. Them, Autopilot (Free Will?) Brain Science, Income Inequality, Moral Foundations, Culture

    Sapolsky is a great writer! The text is clearly presented by someone with a firm grasp on the tree of knowledge and how to pass it on. There are many noted os a personal nature, usually with a wonderful sense of humor. And there are many, many wonderful references such as "untruthiness".

    It's Complicated! - That's the theme of the book.

    p.248 "This is summarized wonderfully by the neurobiologist Donald Hebb: “It is no more appropriate to say things like characteristic A is more influenced by nature than nurture than . . . to say that the area of a rectangle is more influenced by its length than its width.” It’s appropriate to figure out if lengths or widths explain more of the variability in a population of rectangles. But not in individual ones."

    Epilogue Bullet: " Genes aren’t about inevitabilities; they’re about potentials and vulnerabilities. And they don’t determine anything on their own. Gene/ environment interactions are everywhere. Evolution is most consequential when altering regulation of genes, rather than genes themselves."

    Epilogue Bullet: " Adolescence shows us that the most interesting part of the brain evolved to be shaped minimally by genes and maximally by experience; that’s how we learn—context, context, context."

    Epilogue Bullet: " We are constantly being shaped by seemingly irrelevant stimuli, subliminal information, and internal forces we don’t know a thing about."

    p.267 Figure from Cluture Gender and Math ( Luigi Guiso et al. ) showing girls better at math in Iceland

    Epilogue Bullet: " Brains and cultures coevolve."
    p.92 "Words have power. They can save, cure, uplift, devastate, deflate, and kill. And unconscious priming with words influences pro-and antisocial behaviors."

    p.97 culture shapes what we see "Thus, culture literally shapes how and where you look at the world."

    Us versus Them

    Epilogue Bullet: " We implicitly divide the world into Us and Them, and prefer the former. We are easily manipulated, even subliminally and within seconds, as to who counts as each."
    Epilogue Bullet: " Be dubious about someone who suggests that other types of people are like little crawly, infectious things."

    p.388 IAT "Rapid, automatic biases against a Them can be demonstrated with the fiendishly clever Implicit Association Test (IAT). 3 Suppose you are unconsciously prejudiced against trolls. To simplify the IAT enormously: A computer screen flashes either pictures of humans or trolls or words with positive connotations (e.g., “honest”) or negative ones (“ deceitful”). Sometimes the rule is “If you see a human or a positive term, press the red button; if it’s a troll or a negative term, press the blue button.” And sometimes it’s “Human or negative term, press red; troll or positive term, press blue.” Because of your antitroll bias, pairing a troll with a positive term, or a human with a negative, is discordant and slightly distracting. Thus you pause for a few milliseconds before pressing a button."

    p.629 "The core of that thought is Susan Fiske’s demonstration that automatic other-race-face amygdala responses can be undone when subjects think of that face as belonging to a person, not a Them. The ability to individuate even monolithic and deindividuated monsters can be remarkable."

    Epilogue Bullet: " When humans invented socioeconomic status, they invented a way to subordinate like nothing that hierarchical primates had ever seen before."

    p.144 "There’s wonderful context dependency to these effects. When a rat secretes tons of glucocorticoids because it’s terrified, dendrites atrophy in the hippocampus. However, if it secretes the same amount by voluntarily running on a running wheel, dendrites expand. Whether the amygdala is also activated seems to determine whether the hippocampus interprets the glucocorticoids as good or bad stress."
    45 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2023
    Sapolsky is witty, intelligent and quite knowledgeable of his subject matter. I never understood what was meant by "identifying with the mind" or why "free will is an illusion". I also didn't understand what amygdala hijack was either even though I had heard about it a lot. All of this is explained and more. The connection between us humans and other animals was profoundly moving and I loved the last half of the book as Sapolsky explains major themes of human behavior such as compassion, empathy, hate, aggression, peace, war and many others and helps us understand what is happening within our brains that drives these behaviors.

    I found the reviews by obvious conservatives (most of the 1 & 2 star folks) quite funny. Clearly they didn't read the entire book. Because one thing Sapolsky notes over and over and over....the brain is PLASTIC. It can change depending on how much we "feed" it new information. So even when he notes that conservatives tend toward stupidity, he explains what is happening within their brains that dictates this. And it's important to note they were not born this way, but became this way in response to their environment, mostly to the fear of not surviving. (One thing you really get from this book is how survival is a fundamental driver of ALL our behavior). As a result they spend too much time thinking from the limited limbic system (amygdala) and too little time activating and expanding their knowledge within the prefrontal cortex. They are literally continually activating their threat response and all their choices are fear-based. Emotional regulation/mindfulness is the key to overcoming this and it's sad they don't see this. So much unnecessary suffering.

    This was a really long book and took me months to finish. But was really so much worth the effort. I highly recommend this book to all humans.
    59 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Fran Vega
    5.0 out of 5 stars Un excelente libro
    Reviewed in Mexico on December 10, 2024
    Me gustó mucho muy buen libro solo lo usé para leer y aprender más 💯/💯
  • C
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and intelligent views of life and cognitive underpinnings.
    Reviewed in Canada on November 13, 2024
    I love love love this book👍 one hundred percent worth buying.
  • Paul
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent author and book on what cause human behaviours
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2025
    Highly recommend this author and this book on what influences / causes human behaviours.
  • Riccardo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Item arrived in very good conditions.
    Reviewed in Italy on November 12, 2024
    Item was almost perfect if it wasn’t for a little flow at the lower corner of the front cover (which I don’t think was due to delivery for the way it was well packaged).
  • Akhil Mohan
    5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply intellectual, informative and stimulating
    Reviewed in India on October 10, 2024
    Fair warning: this book is not for everyone. It’s over 1000 pages long, extremely complicated, full of qualifications and nuances, frequently transitions from one topic to the next, and makes you forget almost as much as it makes you learn. But if you can see it all the way to the end, you deserve to feel proud. This book is an encyclopaedic crash course in neuroscience, sociobiology, philosophy and human morality all rolled into one massive treatise seeking to answer the question: do we humans take decisions of our own free will or does our biology and genealogy do it for us? Are we even responsible for our best and worst behaviours; how can we enhance the former and suppress the latter? Predictably, there is no easy answer but Sapolsky provides both the templates and the catalysts to help answer the question as objectively as possible.

    His erudition, width and depth of knowledge - and the welcome doses of riotous humour - make him as good an author as he is scientist. One wished he did not complicate every issue with a near-infinite supply of opposing, qualifying and modifying examples - even when they are not always central to the theme under discussion - as it leaves one reeling at the end as to what conclusion to actually draw. It does become clearer as you progress but the process would be more friction-less if the author just recognised that most of us (lay people) can’t actually swim underwater. That apart, this is just a delightful book - full of powerful examples, glittering pearls of knowledge, and those indescribably joyous explanations when something you have always ‘known’ turns out to have a deep, scientific basis. It is also a somewhat encouraging book, as far as the future of our species is concerned, as Sapolosky tries to show that over the centuries and millennia of human existence our best behaviours are becoming more common and ubiquitous and our worst ones a little less so.

    It cannot be ignored however, that global events over the last 5-7 years, since this book was written, are proving somewhat contrary to this premise. There are wars in several regions of the planet, time-honoured institutions like the UN, WTO, ICJ underpinning the practices of so-called “anonymous pro-sociality” are crumbling, Us-Them dichotomies are widening, we seem to be losing the fight against climate change, and so on. Hopefully, some of them will prove to be just temporary wrinkles in an otherwise upward path. If not, Dr Sapolsky will have to produce a revised edition!

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