Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

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Penguin, May 2, 2017 - Science - 800 pages
New York Times bestseller  • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize  • One of the Washington Post's 10 Best Books of the Year

“It’s no exaggeration to say that Behave is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read.” —David P. Barash, The Wall Street Journal

"It has my vote for science book of the year.” —Parul Sehgal, The New York Times

"Immensely readable, often hilarious...Hands-down one of the best books I’ve read in years. I loved it." —Dina Temple-Raston, The Washington Post

From the bestselling author of A Primate's Memoir and the forthcoming Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will comes a landmark, genre-defining examination of human behavior and an answer to the question: Why do we do the things we do?

Behave is one of the most dazzling tours d’horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted. Moving across a range of disciplines, Sapolsky—a neuroscientist and primatologist—uncovers the hidden story of our actions. Undertaking some of our thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, and war and peace, Behave is a towering achievement—a majestic synthesis of cutting-edge research and a heroic exploration of why we ultimately do the things we do . . . for good and for ill.
 

Contents

INTRODUCTION
1
One THE BEHAVIOR
15
Two ONE SECOND BEFORE
21
Three SECONDS TO MINUTES BEFORE
81
Four HOURS TO DAYS BEFORE
99
Five DAYS TO MONTHS BEFORE
137
Six ADOLESCENCE OR DUDE WHERES
154
Seven BACK TO THE CRIB BACK TO THE WOMB
174
Twelve HIERARCHY OBEDIENCE AND RESISTANCE
425
Thirteen MORALITY AND DOING THE RIGHT THING
478
Fourteen FEELING SOMEONES PAIN UNDERSTANDING
521
Fifteen METAPHORS WE KILL BY
553
Sixteen BIOLOGY THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
580
Seventeen WAR AND PEACE
614
EPILOGUE
671
Neuroscience 101
679

Eight BACK TO WHEN YOU WERE JUST
223
Nine CENTURIES TO MILLENNIA BEFORE
266
Ten THE EVOLUTION OF BEHAVIOR
328
Eleven US VERSUS THEM
387
The Basics of Endocrinology
707
Glossary of Abbreviations
718
Illustration Credits
774
Copyright

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About the author (2017)

Robert M. Sapolsky is the author of several works of nonfiction, including A Primate’s MemoirThe Trouble with Testosterone, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, and Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will. He is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant.” He and his wife live in San Francisco.

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