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Table of Contents
The Road to Character by David Brooks ePub
In The Social Animal, he explored the neuroscience of human connection and how we can flourish together. Now, in The Road to Character, he focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives. Responding to what he calls the culture of the Big Me, which emphasizes external success, Brooks challenges us, and himself, to rebalance the scales between our “résumé virtues”–achieving wealth, fame, and status–and our “eulogy virtues,” those that exist at the core of our being: kindness, bravery, honesty, or faithfulness, focusing on what kind of relationships we have formed.
Looking to some of the world’s greatest thinkers and inspiring leaders, Brooks explores how, through internal struggle and a sense of their own limitations, they have built a strong inner character. Labor activist Frances Perkins understood the need to suppress parts of herself so that she could be an instrument in a larger cause. Dwight Eisenhower organized his life not around impulsive self-expression but considered self-restraint. Dorothy Day, a devout Catholic convert and champion of the poor, learned as a young woman the vocabulary of simplicity and surrender. Civil rights pioneers A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin learned reticence and the logic of self-discipline, the need to distrust oneself even while waging a noble crusade. The Road to Character by David Brooks ePub
Blending psychology, politics, spirituality, and confessional, The Road to Character provides an opportunity for us to rethink our priorities, and strive to build rich inner lives marked by humility and moral depth.
“Joy,” David Brooks writes, “is a byproduct experienced by people who are aiming for something else. But it comes.”
Review – The Road to Character by David Brooks ePub
I’m a student of moral development, so the idea that a scholar devoted himself to the root of character development pulled me into this book.
I was grateful for the multiple vignettes on various men and women who found themselves on their path to maturity and ultimately character. It was difficult to follow the theme at times, but that was part of the charm of this book — I found myself getting immersed in each real-life story.
The author returns often to the Protestant ethic…one that believes we are inherently flawed and cannot be made whole on our own. I share this ethic, but I was disappointed how forceful the author was at pointing it out (too often). It would have been more effective to allow the reader to arrive at these concepts on his/her own.
The last chapter effectively summarizes the author’s intent, that pride is the root of all that undermines character, and humility is the root of the development of it. The Road to Character by David Brooks ePub
I highly recommend this book to any student of moral development. While morality is can be found on many paths, this one quote from the book is the common denominator:
“Character is built in the course of your inner confrontation. Character is a set of dispositions, desires, and habits that are slowly engraved during the struggle against your own weakness.”
Detail About The Road to Character by David Brooks ePub
- Name: The Road to Character
- Author: David Brooks
- ISBN: 081299325X
- Language: English
- Genre: Philosophy of Ethics & Morality, Sociology, Personal Transformation Self-Help,
- Format: epub
Biography
David Brooks is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times and appears regularly on “PBS NewsHour,” NPR’s “All Things Considered” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He teaches at Yale University and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the bestselling author of The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement; Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There; and On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense. He has three children and lives in Maryland. You might also like the book of Alpha by David Morenas
