Behave

The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

By: Robert Sapolsky

Narrated by: Michael Goldstrom

The New York Times best seller.

From the celebrated neurobiologist and primatologist, a landmark, genre-defining examination of human behavior, both good and bad, and an answer to the question: Why do we do the things we do?

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 evolutionary legacy.

And so the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. A behavior occurs - whether an example of humans at our best, worst, or somewhere in between. What went on in a person's brain a second before the behavior happened? Then Sapolsky pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell caused the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones acted hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli that triggered 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: How was that behavior influenced by structural changes in the nervous system over the preceding months, by that person's adolescence, childhood, fetal life, and then back to his or her genetic makeup? Finally, he expands the view to encompass factors larger than one individual. How did culture shape that individual's group, what ecological factors millennia old formed that culture? And on and on, back to evolutionary factors millions of years old.

The result is one of the most dazzling tours d'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.

©2017 Robert M. Sapolsky (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

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

"It has my vote for science book of the year.” (Parul Sehgal, The New York Times)

“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 Magnum Opus

What a work! This book ties together insights ranging from so many disciplines that it defies categorization. Factors influencing human behavior but not determining per se - a major theme) are reviewed and illustrated with countless experimental examples ranging from molecular to societal -with everything in between. Some may find it repetitive but that is the essence of learning. So much detail is included that you should sign up for 15 Medical School credits if you make it to the end. And very importantly the narrator dealt with the big words in a manner was much appreciated by this reviewer - a retired professor of pharmacology.

Very cool book!

I listen to the author's TED Talk and was inspired to listen to the audio book and I wasn't disappointed.

A how to on making the world a better place.

It's dense, but fascinating. A wealth or knowledge from various fields related to behavior.

Drone view of behavioral psychology

The book is very much a Psychology 101 course designed to give the reader an overview of the field, and frankly, it's a haul. Sapolsky covers a lot of ground and frankly, if you don't have some background in biopsychology, you can find yourself bogged down pretty quickly. Nevertheless, there is a lot of information here that has very practical uses and opens the reader to a better understanding of the world around them.

What surprised me, is how literary the book is. Sapolsky is a very fine writer. Clever, humorous and inventive. That was unexpected, but not unappreciated. The narrative is very good, and even though the book is very long, every chapter is satisfying.

My one criticism lies with his political analyses which are media friendly, but unsophisticated and unnecessary. Jonathan Haidt is not as good a writer as Sapolsky, but a better psychologist I think.

Brilliant

I am in academic neuroscientist and I found this book absolutely stellar – a perfect mix of rigorous academics and digestible synthesis.

Made my grey matter sit up and take notice!

Yes, it brought back a great deal of what I've learned along the way in Nursing. Pretty technical though. The author has an amazing sense of humor, so when I was listening to it in the car, I would laugh out loud!

Fascinating

I loved it. Very well written. The reader has an easy voice to listen to.

Magisterial Sweep of Human Behavior

I loved this magisterial sweep of human behavior. Thank you Robert for sharing. Dr. James (Jim) Husen.

I think I want to buy the physical book

I am fascinated by what psychology and neuroscience can tell us about behavior. At this juncture in politics in the United States, we need to understand why people do the crazy things they do if we want to save our democracy. This book sheds helpful insights on why people behave so badly and provides hope for the future.

Great book

Professor Sapolsky's book made complex neurological, behavioral information in such fun and easy learning experience. His lectures from Stanford is one of most watched lectures on youtube.