7.4 /10 1 Votes
Language English ISBN 978-0-8129-9325-7 Originally published 14 April 2015 Page count 320 Preceded by The Social Animal | 3.7/5 Goodreads Pages 320 Followed by N/A Country United States of America Subjects Morality, Ethics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar David Brooks books, Psychology books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
David brooks on the road to character
The Road to Character is the fourth book written by David Brooks. Brooks taught an undergraduate course at Yale University for three years during the 2010s on Humility, the subject of this book.
Contents
- David brooks on the road to character
- The road to character by david brooks
- Outline
- Reception
- References
Published in 2015, the author says, "I wrote it, to be honest, to save my own soul." According to The Guardian, Brooks decided that he had spent, "...too much time cultivating what he calls “the résumé virtues” – racking up impressive accomplishments – and too little on “the eulogy virtues”, the character strengths for which we’d like to be remembered."
The road to character by david brooks
Outline
Brooks begins with Adam I and Adam II, two contradictory sides of human nature described in The Lonely Man of Faith by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. Adam I is the external, career-driven, ambitious side, which Brooks calls the "résumé" self. The subject of this book, Adam II, is internal, humble and the "eulogy" self, the one who “wants to have a serene inner character.”
The bulk of the book is eight chapters of biographical sketches. Loosely one per chapter they are: Frances Perkins, Dwight D. Eisenhower with a page or two devoted to redefining sin for contemporary times, Dorothy Day, George Marshall, A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin who organized the March on Washington, the novelist George Eliot and her mate George Lewes, Augustine and his mother Monica, Samuel Johnson and Michel de Montaigne, winding up with sketches of Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath. Each chapter describes the personal weaknesses that the individual overcame.
Brooks concludes with fifteen numbered points, a sort of CliffsNotes for those who would like the "condensed message of this book."
Reception
Brooks received positive reviews from The New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, Washingtonian, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly.
Amazon customers gave it 4 of 5 stars. The book was the #1 bestseller in Amazon.com's Personal Transformation category of self-help books, and in the Ethics & Morality category of philosophy books. As of mid-April and early May 2015, on the Wall Street Journal-Best Seller list it was #4. Reuters reported it was the #3 best selling hardcover nonfiction book (based on data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors across the U.S.). It was #9 on the Audible list of Nonfiction bestsellers.