The Road to Character
by David Brooks · first published 2015
60% recommend33% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
An introspective look at character, human nature, and moral values, using real-life examples. It serves as a reality check that prompts self-reflection for readers wanting to grow kinder and more sympathetic.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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. 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
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…lookout for books that might subtly influence my perspective in ways that would make me warmer, kinder, more sympathetic/empathetic. Two of these recommendations look spot-on for that. Purchased: The Road to Character "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…
on “YC's 2015 Reading List” ↗Cheatsheet, without the affiliate links (another commenter posted these with affiliate links then deleted it after being called out): The Road to Character, David Brooks - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081299325X Thing Explainer, Randall Munroe - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544668251 Being Nixon: A Man Divided, Evan Thomas - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812995368…
on “The Best Books I Read in 2015” ↗Deep Work - Cal Newport (highly recommended) A Mind for Numbers - Barbara Oakley The Road to Character - David Brooks
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗If you like Rilke, you'd also really like James Hollis' The Middle Passage (1993). As for as books from the past decade go David Brooks' The Road to Character was pretty good. His follow-up The Second Mountain would have been better if he didn't recycle so much from the previous work. Sam Harris' Waking Up was pretty eye opening as Harris is a very lucid thinker.
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗The road to character. It's a great reality check, poking into human nature, morality, suffering, all with real life examples and littlz tolerance for bullshit without delusion of grandeur.
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗…many that weren't as good): Zero to One, Poor Charlie's Almanack, Snowball, The Outsiders (8 CEOs, not the fiction novel), Sapiens, Principles by Ray Dalio, Overcoming the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, The Road to Character
on “Ask HN: What book that you read in 2015 significantly affected how you think?” ↗I haven't read much else he's written, but I did enjoy The Road to Character... should I now be suspicious of the claims he makes about the people he described?
on “No, there is no epidemic of loneliness” ↗I think this is pretty much the thesis statement of "The Road to Character". Another interesting insight I am picking up from that book is that the best leaders are really the ones who know how to identify and pick the "Best Leaders". While those who are humble and reserved…
on “Humble People Make the Best Leaders” ↗I can say I've got through something similar. A book that made me very introspective was David Brook's The Road To Character . It made me ask my self a lot of questions which I have documented here https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/packages/55/david-brooks-humi... Another book was Paul Kalanathi's When Breath Becomes Air I also…
on “Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?” ↗Agreed - you do feel dirty after reading this. Also waiting for the other shoe to drop and here it is in the byline: David Brooks is an Op-Ed columnist and the author, most recently, of The Road to Character, from which this essay is adapted. I love the stern paternalism of an OpEd piece designed to sell a book - a book that I suspect has no more thought content than the OpEd piece. I hate the NYT as much…
on “The Moral Bucket List” ↗- The Road to Character (David Brooks) - Code (Charles Petzold) - Soft Skills: The Software Developer's Life Manual (John Z. Sonmez) - Zero Bugs and Program Faster (Kate Thompson) - Daemon (Daniel Suarez) - Algorithms to…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?” ↗…http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Thing-Explainer Others Below: Eradiation: http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Eradication Mindset: http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Mindset-The-New-Psychology-o... The Road To Character: http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/The-Road-to-Character Being Nixon: http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Being-Nixon Sustainable Materials: http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Sustainable-Materials-With-B...
on “The Best Books I Read in 2015” ↗I've reading the book, The Road to Character, and there's a chapter on Frances Perkins, the first female secretary of labor and one of the architects of the New Deal. She had a BA in Chemistry, not because she was good at it, but precisely because…
on “What the Next Generation Needs Is Math, Not Programming” ↗Re: "The Road To Character", an interview of the author on On Point in April: http://onpoint.wbur.org/2015/04/20/moral-guidance-david-broo...
on “The Best Books I Read in 2015” ↗I'm in the middle of The Road To Character, and it's a bit too much "people used to be better" for me so far - but still it has some good points here and there. Wodehouse (also listed in the OP) makes me happy to read, they're hilarious and glowingly…
on “YC's 2015 Reading List” ↗