Behave

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

The audiobook edition of Behave by Robert Sapolsky, read by Michael Goldstrom.

The New York Times best seller

Winner of the 2017 LA Times Book Prize

Why do human beings behave as they do?

We are capable of savage acts of violence but also spectacular feats of kindness: is one side of our nature destined to win out over the other?

Every act of human behaviour has multiple layers of causation, spiralling back seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, even centuries, right back to the dawn of time and the origins of our species.
In the epic sweep of history, how does our biology affect the arc of war and peace, justice and persecution? How have our brains evolved alongside our cultures?

This is the exhilarating story of human morality and the science underpinning the biggest question of all: what makes us human?

© Robert M Sapolsky 2018 (P) Penguin Audio 2018

Critics Review

  • Awe-inspiring … This is the best scientific book written for non-specialists that I have ever read. You will learn more about human nature than in any other book I can think of, and you will be inspired

    Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm

  • It’s no exaggeration to say that Behave is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read

    Wall Street Journal

  • Behave is the best detective story ever written, and the most important. If you’ve ever wondered why someone did something – good or bad, vicious or generous – you need to read this book. If you think you already know why people behave as they do, you need to read this book. In other words, everybody needs to read it. It should be available on prescription (side effects: chronic laughter; highly addictive). They should put Behave in hotel rooms instead of the Bible: the world would be a much better, wiser place

    Kate Fox, author of Watching the English

  • Magisterial … This extraordinary survey of the science of human behaviour takes the reader on an epic journey … Sapolsky makes the book consistently entertaining, with an infectious excitement at the puzzles he explains … a miraculous synthesis of scholarly domains

    Guardian

  • Truly all-encompassing … detailed, accessible, fascinating

    Telegraph

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