The Social Animal
by David Brooks
Brooks tells the life stories of a fictional couple, Harold and Erica, as a vehicle for research on the unconscious mind, emotion, character and success. The device is awkward and the research is wide-ranging; it is a readable tour of how much of achievement is relational and unconscious.
Read it if…
you want social science delivered as narrative.
Skip it if…
the fictional-couple device irritates you; it is the whole book.
Three things you will actually use
- Emotion and relationship drive success more than IQ.
- The unconscious does most of the work.
- Character is formed in relationship.
Do this first
Read the chapters on childhood attachment and ask what your own patterns taught you.
Our verdict
Readable, uneven, informative.
Compare with other Mindset books
The School of Life: An Emotional Education
The School of Life, introduced by Alain de Botton · Mindset
Elegant and humane.
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