Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

by Robert M. Sapolsky
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

by Robert M. Sapolsky

Hardcover

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Overview

New York Times bestseller • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • One of the Washington Post's 10 Best Books of the Year

“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

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

"Immensely readable, often hilarious...Hands-down one of the best books I’ve read in years. I loved it." —Dina Temple-Raston, The Washington Post

From the bestselling author of A Primate's Memoir and the forthcoming Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will comes a landmark, genre-defining examination of human behavior and an answer to the question: Why do we do the things we do?

Behave is one of the most dazzling tours d’horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted. Moving across a range of disciplines, Sapolsky—a neuroscientist and primatologist—uncovers the hidden story of our actions. Undertaking some of our thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, and war and peace, Behave is a towering achievement—a majestic synthesis of cutting-edge research and a heroic exploration of why we ultimately do the things we do . . . for good and for ill.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781594205071
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 05/02/2017
Pages: 800
Sales rank: 67,958
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.90(d)

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.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 The Behavior 15

2 One Second Before 21

3 Seconds to Minutes Before 81

4 Hours to Days Before 99

5 Days to Months Before 137

6 Adolescence; or, Dude, Where's My Frontal Cortex? 154

7 Back to the Crib, Back to the Womb 174

8 Back to When you were Just a Fertilized Egg 223

9 Centuries to Millennia Before 266

10 The Evolution of Behavior 328

11 Us versus Them 387

12 Hierarchy, Obedience, and Resistance 425

13 Morality and Doing the Right Thing, Once You've Figured Out What That Is 478

14 Feeling Someone's Pain, Understanding Someone's Pain, Alleviating Someone's Pain 521

15 Metaphors We Kill By 553

16 Biology, The Criminal Justice System, and (OH, Why Not?) Free Will 580

17 War and Peace 614

Epilogue 671

Acknowledgments 676

Appendix 1 Neuroscience 101 679

Appendix 2 The Basics of Endocrinology 707

Appendix 3 Protein Basics 711

Glossary of Abbreviations 718

Notes 721

Illustration Credits 774

Index 775

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