Frans de Waal
Hardcover | Pages: 304 pages Rating: 3.98 | 1866 Users | 165 Reviews
Describe Books In Pursuance Of The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society
| Original Title: | The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society |
| ISBN: | 0307407764 (ISBN13: 9780307407764) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rendition During Books The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society
"An important and timely message about the biological roots of human kindness."—Desmond Morris, author of The Naked Ape
Are we our brothers' keepers? Do we have an instinct for compassion? Or are we, as is often assumed, only on earth to serve our own survival and interests? In this thought-provoking book, the acclaimed author of Our Inner Ape examines how empathy comes naturally to a great variety of animals, including humans.
By studying social behaviors in animals, such as bonding, the herd instinct, the forming of trusting alliances, expressions of consolation, and conflict resolution, Frans de Waal demonstrates that animals–and humans–are "preprogrammed to reach out." He has found that chimpanzees care for mates that are wounded by leopards, elephants offer "reassuring rumbles" to youngsters in distress, and dolphins support sick companions near the water's surface to prevent them from drowning. From day one humans have innate sensitivities to faces, bodies, and voices; we've been designed to feel for one another.
De Waal's theory runs counter to the assumption that humans are inherently selfish, which can be seen in the fields of politics, law, and finance, and which seems to be evidenced by the current greed-driven stock market collapse. But he cites the public's outrage at the U.S. government's lack of empathy in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as a significant shift in perspective–one that helped Barack Obama become elected and ushered in what may well become an Age of Empathy. Through a better understanding of empathy's survival value in evolution, de Waal suggests, we can work together toward a more just society based on a more generous and accurate view of human nature.
Written in layman's prose with a wealth of anecdotes, wry humor, and incisive intelligence, The Age of Empathy is essential reading for our embattled times.
List Epithetical Books The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society
| Title | : | The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society |
| Author | : | Frans de Waal |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 304 pages |
| Published | : | September 22nd 2009 by Crown (first published January 1st 2009) |
| Categories | : | Science. Nonfiction. Psychology. Animals. Sociology. Philosophy. Anthropology |
Rating Epithetical Books The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society
Ratings: 3.98 From 1866 Users | 165 ReviewsEvaluate Epithetical Books The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society
I loved this book, and it was an interesting contrast to read it immediately after another popular-consumption book by a biologist (which I didn't like), "Why We Run" by Bernd Heinrich. Frans de Waal comes across as warm, engaging, the kind of guy who would be welcome at your dinner party. I laughed aloud at his somewhat odd Dutch humor a couple of times. His little hand-drawn sketches are also a charming touch.The subject matter, of course, is what interested me in the first place, and I wasn'tborrow the book, read chapter 7, "crooked timber" for an excellent summary of what the author intents us to understand from his book. then read the whole thing. worthwhile reading.the genre: science with a social purpose. first, to show us the latest science of empathy, and second to dispel the idea that humans are so unique to be a mountain range emerging from the plains of other creatures, but rather we are like a high peak surrounded by smaller ones, then foothills, then lower hills. those
Chimps have it. Elephants have it. Wolves have it. De Waal suggests the reason we dont recognize that empathy imbues at least the mammalian world is because of the Western worlds religious insistence that humans are outside of nature. He reports that when Queen Victoria first saw apes, she called them frightful, and painfully and disagreeably human. (207). Lot lurking in that queenly observation. De Waal believes that empathy is a part of a heritage as ancient as the mammalian line. Empathy
The Age of Empathy: Natures Lessons for a Kinder Society By Frans de WaalThe Age of Empathy is an interesting look at human empathy and what it can teach us how in becoming a better society. Dutch/American biologist with a Ph.D. in zoology and ethology and author of Our Inner Ape and others, Frans de Waal, takes the reader on a journey of empathy and its long evolutionary history. This provocative 306-page book includes the following seven chapters: 1. Biology, Left and Right, 2. The Other
Empathy, argues Dr. De Waal, is not unique to humans. It is, instead, something that can be found throughout the animal kingdom in a variety of forms, and we humans are remiss to not look at the positive traits we share with animals. Ive heard plenty about the negative traits we share with animals, and it was fascinating (and refreshing) to read the opposite spin that getting in touch with our animalistic instincts can, in fact, be a very good thing. This book was enlightening to me, especially
I read this for our "science book club" meeting, and we all agreed that this book was not up to snuff. It was like they sat the author down in a comfy chair and said "Just start talking, we'll put your ramblings together into a book." There was not structure or framework to the book -- no overriding thesis (other than maybe "empathy is good, chimps have empathy, people should be more empathetic" -- so it was difficult to pull apart and analyze his arguments. He doesn't present enough scientific
Is it just me, or does current non-fiction contain way too many personal anecdotes. Do I really care about something that happened to your brother-in-law? "Hot, Crowded, and Flat" was chock full of them. The difference between that work and "The Age of Empathy" is that there is some actual science behind de Waal's work. The "Age of Empathy" is really about several different emotions and traits thought to be uniquely human like empathy, sympathy, self awareness, sense of fair play, and
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