Social Animal: The science behind everyday life

Here is David Brooks' piece in the New Yorker last week. I recommend reading it in its entirety. An excerpt:

"They live in a society that prizes the development of career skills but is inarticulate when it comes to the things that matter most. The young achievers are tutored in every soccer technique and calculus problem, but when it comes to their most important decisions--whom to marry and whom to befriend, what to love and what to despise--they are on their own. Nor, for all their striving, do they understand the qualities that lead to the highest achievement. Intelligence, academic performance, and prestigious schools don't correlate well with fulfillment, or even with outstanding accomplishment. The traits that do make a difference are poorly understood, and can't be taught in a classroom, no matter what the tuition: the ability to understand and inspire people; to read situations and discern the underlying patterns; to build trusting relationships; to recognize and correct one's shortcomings; to imagine alternate futures. In short, these achievers have a sense that they are shallower than they need to be."

The last page of the article is pure gold, so I won't spoil it for you. Much of his thoughts are based on his research on neuroscience, which, as he says, "helps fill the hole left by the atrophy of theology and philosophy." I've been meaning to read Jonathan Haidt as a primer.