Born to be good download

They not only attack any lesser males with the same and worse auditory abuse and physical violence; but accidentally-on-purpose expel and murder their rivals, alien progeny and their own neonatal young. Too scary? Travel writers completely know that. The gripping image comes first. We need to latch on. True, I am neither a scientist nor a mathematician; but I have significant intelligence and a legendary attention span, especially for reading good books.

I feel for him. He was truly puzzled. I felt for him, too. Letting down some defenses. Aug 23, Kurtbg rated it did not like it Shelves: sociology , disappointing-books , psychology , fiction. This book title is really misleading. The majority of it is really about the physiology of human interaction.

The book starts out proposing a formula for happiness which is basically good stuff divided by bad stuff. The result is a measurable happiness quotient. I don't really see this as useful as it's relative think Chris Farley's religious devotion and charity divided by his drugs, alcohol and escort patronage and disregards scale. I put this in more of a free-wheelin self-help category ver This book title is really misleading. I put this in more of a free-wheelin self-help category versus a scientific and open approach to meaning and science.

For instance, the author explains a personal encounter with the titled Dalai Lama and how he felt power and feeling. A scientist would have show an inquistiveness to conducting a test as to where that power emanates: from the self or from the chosen focus, in this case the DL.

I would propose conducting a blind test and and a placebo group. That would provide insight as to where the feeling emanates. I would wager it comes from the self and the object DL, celebrity, etc is just an affect image on which we project ideas. The valuable information is that a person has control of their state which is based on belief. Those activities are subjective as a beautiful sunset, exercising, religion or to psychotic behavior.

That's the power of belief. Apr 05, David rated it liked it. This book makes the compelling point that human nature is not exclusively selfish, as epitomized in Dawkins' title "The Selfish Gene", but instead exhibits, in many respects, cooperation and compassion. Keltner correctly notes that Darwin himself first suggested this, insisting on "the greater strength of the social or maternal instincts than that of any other instinct or motive.

As Pete This book makes the compelling point that human nature is not exclusively selfish, as epitomized in Dawkins' title "The Selfish Gene", but instead exhibits, in many respects, cooperation and compassion. As Peter Singer has noted, "But over history the circle has expanded Mind you this is very interesting material. But its connection to the principal aim of the book is questionable. Also, I was disappointed that Keltner did not cite some other sources that would help make his point even stronger.

Robert Wright's book "Nonzero" comes to mind in particular -- Wright argues that the extension of humankind's cooperative circle is based in mathematical game theory, and is the basis of modern civilization. But Ketlner's book is at least interesting. Many will find it worthwhile. Aug 27, Lynn rated it it was ok. Totally biased, simplistic, and overly optimistic, but some of the studies presented were interesting.

There are much better accounts of our evolutionary nature than this, including Michael Shermer's Science of Good and Evil and anything by Steven Pinker. Barbara Oakley's Evil Genes also gives a different perspective. This guy has an agenda, and he doesn't want to present any evidence or interpret any evidence contrary to it.

He would make a great guest on Oprah. Adam Smith was unfairly disparage Totally biased, simplistic, and overly optimistic, but some of the studies presented were interesting. Adam Smith was unfairly disparaged in the book, but Smith's armchair philosophy in The Theory of Moral Sentiments is more on target than all of Keltner's starry eyed conclusions based on his selected "scientific" studies. Apr 17, Jeannine rated it did not like it Shelves: abandoned.

It was disappointing and I abandoned it half-way. There is a disconnect between the introduction of the book and the actual material in the chapters. I was not at all interested in learning the difference between a false and a genuine smile. I have encountered this material in introductory psychology classes and in everyday life. I probably should have skimmed through the book before purchasing it but felt optimistic since I enjoyed the author's course on happiness on EdX.

I would like to think It was disappointing and I abandoned it half-way. I would like to think that someday I "might" finish this book but realistically, I probably won't. Jul 31, Marissa Morrison rated it really liked it. Definitely worth reading. The presentation of Darwin's work with emotion and body language was especially interesting. It was also good to learn about the vagus nerve, how men and women communicate differently through touch, and how encountering the Dalai Lama makes people feel good for days.

Ultimately I wish that this book had been longer and more detailed. Aug 13, Keats Snideman marked it as to-read. Still reading it.. Its got a little bit of evolutionary biology, nueroscience, psychology; pretty cool. Feb 22, Tristan LeBlanc rated it liked it. This was a thrift store find for me. Keltner studies the psychology of emotions - he argues that, contrary to much of Western thought which tends to portray people as self-interested and only constrained from evil behaviors by the regulations of society , people are motivated by their emotions to perform prosocial behaviors.

Much of the book focuses on the evolutionary use of emotions and behaviors such as embarrassment, laughter, or compassion in connecting to other people. It's safe to ignore This was a thrift store find for me.

It's safe to ignore anything he says about the jen ratio - he says that happiness can be measured by dividing good things by bad things. This is hard to quantify in terms of relative emotional impact - perhaps the nice sandwich you ate for lunch has less of an emotional impact than hugging a family member. Besides, it is very hard to divide the world into strict categories of either good or bad.

Some negative experiences can have positive outcomes, etc. In general, I thought it was pretty interesting. It was published in , so it would be interesting to read something more up to date on the same topic. Jan 12, Daniela rated it really liked it. My thoughts at the beginning were that applying jen science to individuals and relationships makes sense and can be beneficial - these thoughts lasted through the end of the book.

However, in the first chapter, the author also mentions applying jen to nations and governments, which seemed too ambitious and a thought that, in my opinion, tends to oversimplify and overlook what causes unhappy citizens. At times, it seemed like the writing went on tangents that, although interesting, are difficult t My thoughts at the beginning were that applying jen science to individuals and relationships makes sense and can be beneficial - these thoughts lasted through the end of the book.

At times, it seemed like the writing went on tangents that, although interesting, are difficult to connect back to the book's main idea. This book answered questions about the origins of different facial expressions that I didn't know I had.

This book is split up into 12 chapters. The first explains jen science, and the remaining 11 focus on a certain emotion and explain how that emotion came to exist and evolve. I like knowing that compassion is good for me and has a positive impact on the community around me - and that this claim has some scientific backing. I enjoyed learning that the bodily expressions of love involve head tilts and open-hand gestures.

In short, I enjoyed reading about the nuances and significance of small gestures that make up non-verbal communication. Oct 14, Amit Thumar rated it liked it. It's way too much academic for me. I did chuckle on some notes as the author tried to lighten the serious mood but I would've liked it much better without all the technical details. It's better to have it but not for me. With the help of all the details in it, if someone would give me a summary of the book, or if there was a mini version of common folks like me, would've been a 5 star book!

But I get it. Some people would definitely dig the extra details and would validate the points well. Summary It's way too much academic for me.

This is second book I read which resulted in this conclusion. Kinda similar, after all the analysis and drama, conclusion is same but digestible for me when drama is there to go along with the analysis. Sep 01, JY Tan rated it liked it Shelves: psychology. Was expecting this to be some of sort of self help material tied in with evolution psychology with oriental Confucius philosophy. It turned out to be a pretty interesting textbook on emotions and their evolutionary origins, and how it is advantageous to be kind and benevolent.

Author should have explained kindness and selfishness in the same picture, instead of dropping the selfishness narrative halfway. On its own it's a moderately interesting science book on the evolution of emotions. I just h Was expecting this to be some of sort of self help material tied in with evolution psychology with oriental Confucius philosophy. I just happened to have different expectations, making some of the passages unbearable to read.

It's an important book with important messages, just disappointingly uninteresting most of the time. Oct 31, Tbuikema rated it really liked it. Born to Be Good is an uplifting book, one that raises and strongly supports the idea that being good, nice, and social is how humans evolved to behave.

I want to believe that; and Dacher provides plenty of evidence to support the premise. But the book makes a compelli Born to Be Good is an uplifting book, one that raises and strongly supports the idea that being good, nice, and social is how humans evolved to behave. But the book makes a compelling case and gives me plenty to think about as I work at practicing kindness, feeling good as a result, and understanding why the practices and emotions fit together so well. Feb 05, Kathleen rated it really liked it.

Interesting discussion of the role of emotions in clear and rational thinking. In-depth review of the individual emotions, their interrelationships, and the facial expression coding system used by social scientists to track reactions to various situations. I think I would have benefitted from a summary chapter, tying all the threads together. I know Keltner is doing interesting work now at the Greater Good program at UC Berkeley, but this earlier work doesn't have the full integration perspective Interesting discussion of the role of emotions in clear and rational thinking.

I know Keltner is doing interesting work now at the Greater Good program at UC Berkeley, but this earlier work doesn't have the full integration perspective he and his team have developed in recent years. May 27, Kathryn Davidson rated it it was ok. Although this book was based on hours of research regarding how we express and experience certain emotions, that same effort was not expended on analysis nor on summation.

Ironically, the entire summation is a an underwhelming sentence at the end of a chapter on awe. The author uses simplistic, circular logic to argue the point rather than presenting a sound defense for his argument.

If his hypothesis is true, he has not done it justice. Apr 24, Jools rated it really liked it. An informative, engaging read, full of Dacher Keltner's enthusiasm for his subject and fascinating insights on the human psyche. It gave me hope that, despite what the popular media would have us think, people ARE basically good and cooperative, and that if we can harness that there is hope for us all.

Jul 09, Jocelyn rated it it was amazing Shelves: non-fiction. A Stanford psychologist discusses the origins and human expressions of kindness, embarrassment, teasing, love, compassion, and awe. We may be naturally fearful and violent, but let's not forget that we are also wired for social bonding.

Loved it, read it while taking the class. Great stories and a lot of greats facts. Jan 15, Chris Worthy rated it really liked it. This is a deep dive into the research of the best of human behavior: compassion, awe, kindness, laughter. It's not a light read but it's good stuff. Sep 28, Colin Das rated it it was amazing. If you have inkling to smile or connect with people or do greater good for humanity, this book validates you.

And all three are innate to all humans. I was drawn to this because it's the science of 'jen'. It was mildly interesting, albeit verbose and textbook-ish. Mar 18, Rossdavidh rated it liked it Shelves: red. Dacher Keltner's "Born to Be Good" is in a whole different world, emotionally, than what you see in the daily news.

Rather than reading it with a feeling of tension, a mix of excitement and dread, reading "Born to Be Good" was light, optimistic, and reassuring. It occasionally ventured into territory that seemed so optimistic as to leave me wondering if things could possibly be as positive as he was asserting, but in every chapter usually several times a chapter Keltner brings in specific studies often done by himself personally to test his assertions.

Keltner's work began with studying, in what to me would be mind-numbing detail, facial expressions. Building on the work of a prior generation of researchers, he learned how to use the Facial Action Coding System FACS , which is essentially the full catalog of all the muscle movements possible in the human face. One of the researchers he worked with is able to roll his eyebrows in a wave from side to side. These are people who know facial expressions like DaVinci knew anatomy, and for not entirely dissimilar reasons.

This takes us off on a tour of the human expressions and emotions: embarrassment, smiling, laughing, teasing, and so on. Keltner's basic thesis, which he builds up through all of the studies done on all of these basic emotional states, is this: - humans are social beings - we're made for communicating with one another, and we do it through touch and facial expressions as much as through language - our natural biological state is to be honest, care about each other, and care for each other Keltner believes we would be a happier society if we communicated with each other more, in person, hugged each other more especially our kids , and spent more time thinking about each other.

The entire book is a smiling, good-natured but ultimately total rejection of the theory of Homo Economicus, the theorized individual of neoclassical economics that is primarily rational and self-interested. Keltner doesn't believe we are happy when we act that way, and he thinks he has the science to prove it.

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