The Road to Character

Description

1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • David Brooks challenges us to rebalance the
scales between the focus on external success—“résumé virtues”—and our core
principles. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST With the
wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of
readers to his New York Times column and his previous bestsellers, David
Brooks has consistently illuminated our daily lives in surprising and original
ways. 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. 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. 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.” Praise for The Road to
Character “A hyper-readable, lucid, often richly detailed human story.”—The
New York Times Book Review “This profound and eloquent book is written with
moral urgency and philosophical elegance.”—Andrew Solomon, author of Far from
the Tree and The Noonday Demon “A powerful, haunting book that works its way
beneath your skin.”—The Guardian “Original and eye-opening . . . Brooks is a
normative version of Malcolm Gladwell, culling from a wide array of scientists
and thinkers to weave an idea bigger than the sum of its parts.”—USA Today
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Features:

Product Details:

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House; 1st edition (April 14, 2015)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 081299325X
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 57
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.22 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1.05 x 9.52 inches
• Best Sellers Rank: #30,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #82 in Philosophy of Ethics & Morality #204 in Sociology (Books) #750 in Personal Transformation Self-Help
• #82 in Philosophy of Ethics & Morality
• #204 in Sociology (Books)