Social

Interesting, but a little dry in places.

This book is great for understanding the mechanisms in our mind that make us want to connect to other human beings. Lieberman takes his time and reiterates where he needs to for those of us not familiar with psychology, and the book has lots of diagrams labeling the parts of the brain he talks about. It's technical enough to satisfy those who are studied in psychology but accessible enough to be understood by anyone who isn't in the field and just wants a good book to learn more about how we work as social creatures.

The only thing i would've wanted more from this book is an explanation on anti-social behavior. if anything the book is a solid testament to people being altruistic and selfless. I would have liked a chapter on explaining away why people sometimes forgo their social wiring and act or think selfishly. I may be reaching though, that topic might be outside the scope of the book. It's a great read and I'll definitely recommend it.

Have you ever read a book about something you were deeply interested in and finished it and thought you somehow now knew less about something than when you first started the book?

That's how I feel after finishing this book.

I usually read a nonfiction book and take notes as I read. I tried to do that with this book, but found that when I got to the end of the book I hadn't written a single thing down.

I'm not sure that I really understood anything in the book.

(I reveal these things with honesty and some trepidation. I want to assure you that I'm a fairly astute reader of all-things-psychological; my master's degree is in psychology. Nevertheless, this book was over my head.)