bleary's review against another edition
5.0
A work that's monstrous in scope but also quite readable, Behave attempts to answer the great question of our time: why are humans such jerks? The answer is "it's complicated" but there's a pretty fascinating journey through biology, neurology and behavioural science on the way.
lmattes's review against another edition
No rating because I quit. I rarely quit books but I quit. I’m all set with the author’s agenda.
elsiebrady's review against another edition
4.0
So specific and so broad. I need a hard copy to refer to as a textbook.
jdm9970's review against another edition
5.0
This is second on my all time list behind Kahneman. This thing is huge, it's as close to a comprehensive multi-field discussion of human behavior I've seen, and it manages to stay coherent, well structured, and compelling throughout.
This book goes from the basic structure and biology of neurons, the brain, neurotransmitters and hormones, genetic elements of behavior, epigenetics, development of the brain and behavior from early in pregnancy through adolescence and how negative events (malnutrition, abuse, neglect) alter that development, a pretty damn in depth discussion of evolution and the various selection processes in play from survival of the individual to close family to the species as a whole, and how social structures and culture influence behavior just to lay the groundwork for how much goes into any single decision.
The second part starts to look into behavior closer to directly through the lens of research by psychology. It starts with in-group bias, with solid coverage of how researchers have manipulated whether people feel someone is an us or a them. Next is peer pressure. Excellent coverage of Milgram's electric shock work and the Stanford Prison Experiment. Really there's a lot here and touching on every subject in depth. What I will say is that the psychology, which is the material I'm most familiar with, is presented masterfully, engaging, does a good job of being clear on what the research does and doesn't say, and consistently refers back to the groundwork in the first part of the book.
There is a third part where he discusses what we should take away from all of this, and he loses me a bit at points in the discussion of the justice system. I'm not entirely sure what he's trying to say. But he comes back strong with discussions of how to work past large scale conflict including war and even genocide, then the overall message that we can use our understanding of context to frame things in ways that allow us to be better to the people around us and drive positive change. Overall with some very minor hiccups, he manages to keep a consistent thread throughout this absolutely insanely broad work. He doesn't just skim through topics. There's a solid level of depth throughout. The organization is excellent. To the best of my ability to determine, it's one of the best sourced books I've read. He does all this while keeping a light, not too serious tone and throwing in mild wit and wordplay in a way that adds to the level of engagement.
If that's not enough, the appendices are great too.
This book goes from the basic structure and biology of neurons, the brain, neurotransmitters and hormones, genetic elements of behavior, epigenetics, development of the brain and behavior from early in pregnancy through adolescence and how negative events (malnutrition, abuse, neglect) alter that development, a pretty damn in depth discussion of evolution and the various selection processes in play from survival of the individual to close family to the species as a whole, and how social structures and culture influence behavior just to lay the groundwork for how much goes into any single decision.
The second part starts to look into behavior closer to directly through the lens of research by psychology. It starts with in-group bias, with solid coverage of how researchers have manipulated whether people feel someone is an us or a them. Next is peer pressure. Excellent coverage of Milgram's electric shock work and the Stanford Prison Experiment. Really there's a lot here and touching on every subject in depth. What I will say is that the psychology, which is the material I'm most familiar with, is presented masterfully, engaging, does a good job of being clear on what the research does and doesn't say, and consistently refers back to the groundwork in the first part of the book.
There is a third part where he discusses what we should take away from all of this, and he loses me a bit at points in the discussion of the justice system. I'm not entirely sure what he's trying to say. But he comes back strong with discussions of how to work past large scale conflict including war and even genocide, then the overall message that we can use our understanding of context to frame things in ways that allow us to be better to the people around us and drive positive change. Overall with some very minor hiccups, he manages to keep a consistent thread throughout this absolutely insanely broad work. He doesn't just skim through topics. There's a solid level of depth throughout. The organization is excellent. To the best of my ability to determine, it's one of the best sourced books I've read. He does all this while keeping a light, not too serious tone and throwing in mild wit and wordplay in a way that adds to the level of engagement.
If that's not enough, the appendices are great too.
tbauman's review against another edition
5.0
Very good overview of the science - neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, biology - of doing right and wrong. I learned a ton about what makes people do good and bad things. This book shows an awesome command of a wide variety of subjects. I think it was a bit lacking in the moral philosophy department - he makes a lot of assumptions about what is right and wrong in some sections, even if those assumptions are very reasonable. (E.g. killing is wrong, treating people equally is good.) He obviously is very well informed and knows his moral philosophy, so maybe a quick chapter on the topic would help define some of his assumptions here.
Overall a great book. I'm looking forward to learning more about neuroscience in particular. I'd love to see the author write a sequel or two about the science of other human behaviors as well
Overall a great book. I'm looking forward to learning more about neuroscience in particular. I'd love to see the author write a sequel or two about the science of other human behaviors as well
olawunmi's review
4.0
It’s hard not to notice the strings of bias laced throughout the book, some of which are acknowledged. Ironically, the acknowledgment of some and not others only makes you wonder about the ones that didn’t get the same treatment and went unannounced