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A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2014
This revelatory tour de force by an acclaimed and internationally bestselling science writer upends our understanding of “survival of the fittest”—and invites us all to think and act more altruistically
The phrase “survival of the fittest” conjures an image of the most cutthroat individuals rising to the top. But Stefan Klein, author of the #1 international bestseller The Science of Happiness, makes the startling assertion that altruism is the key to lasting personal and societal success. In fact, altruism defines us: Natural selection favored those early humans who cooperated in groups, and with survival more assured, our altruistic ancestors were free to devote brainpower to developing intelligence, language, and culture—our very humanity.
Klein’s groundbreaking findings lead him to a vexing question: If we’re really hard-wired to act for one another’s benefit, why aren’t we all getting along? He believes we’ve learned to mistrust our instincts because success is so often attributed to selfish ambition, and with an extraordinary array of material—current research on genetics and the brain, economics, social psychology, behavioral and anthropological experiments, history, and modern culture—he makes the case that generosity for its own sake remains the best way to thrive.
- Sales Rank: #151088 in Books
- Published on: 2014-10-21
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.10" h x .90" w x 5.50" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 272 pages
Review
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2014
“[A] mind-bending book . . . if there is a science to winning over readers, Klein has surely mastered it. . . . The wealth of knowledge here is astounding.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Klein offers a slew of evidence. . . [and] documents his claims thoroughly.”—Science News
“[O]ne of the book’s key strengths [is] its breadth. From psychological experiments to anthropological studies and historical events like the Holocaust or 9/11, Klein seamlessly weaves his way through all to present compelling evidence for why humans have evolved to be selfless. Survival of the Nicest entertainingly informs its readers of how they are born to be altruistic . . .”
—UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center
“This wonderful book could be read as a scientific explanation for a moral imperative to be kind to others. But it is so much more! Stefan Klein, an enticing storyteller, marshals the evidence for the value of altruism—not only to one’s family but, much more interestingly, to one’s self and one’s tribe. Altruism is truly contagious!”
—Roald Hoffman, Nobel Laureate, poet, and Frank H. T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters Emeritus, Cornell University
“A scholarly tour de force about why generosity makes good sense, Survival of the Nicest is also compulsively readable. Klein argues convincingly that helping others is one of the best things we can do for ourselves.”
—Elizabeth Svoboda, author of What Makes a Hero?: The Surprising Science of Selflessness
“A thought-provoking and comprehensive review of the research on altruism, Survival of the Nicest validates humanistic principles and has far-reaching implications for today’s world—especially for US politics and culture. An inspiration!”
—Rebecca Hale, president, American Humanist Association, and co-owner of EvolveFISH.com
“An important contribution to the field of altruism and altruistic behavior and to a better and nicer world. I highly recommend this book.”
—Samuel P. Oliner, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Humboldt State University, and founder and director, The Altruistic Personality and Prosocial Behavior Institute
“In Survival of the Nicest, Stefan Klein poses three questions central to social science and ethics: (1) How is unselfishness possible? (2) What moves us to help others? And (3) why are some people more helpful than others? His wide-ranging answers to these questions suggest that altruism is born into us and that selflessness actually both makes us happy and will transform the world.”
—Kristen Renwick Monroe, Chancellor’s Professor, University of California, Irvine, and author of The Heart of Altruism
“This eloquent and persuasive book shows why in life, like in the movies, the nice guy always wins.”
—Stephen Cave, author of Immortality
“Thoroughly readable...fabulously informative...Survival of the Nicest makes you want to be good and to feel good about it.”—Sunday Times
“A glowing argument for post-Darwinian co-operation.”—Evening Standard
“Well written”—Independent
About the Author
Stefan Klein, PhD, recipient of the prestigious Georg von Holtzbrink Prize for Scientific Journalism, is one of Europe’s premier science writers, as well as a trained physicist himself. His many books include the #1 international bestseller The Science of Happiness and have been translated into 25 languages. Ross Benjamin is a translator and a writer. He has received the prestigious Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize as well as a National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowship.
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Hope for the human race
By Kristin J. Johnson
I have only one minor quibble with this book. The slightly troubling passage emerges on page 207, buried in the end of the book, as perhaps an answer to Ayn Rand:
"[T]he dream of the autonomous individual--the widespread belief that everyone holds their own destiny in their hands--seems dubious. The idea of liberal democracy, to give the individual the greatest possible freedom, is in urgent need of revision."
It is this kind of thinking that collectivists and despots have used for centuries to promote oppressive regimes, and I am frankly shocked that a thinker of Stefan Klein's caliber would resort to such a shoddy and even dangerous argument, which undermines the last 209 pages of argument. This book makes such a beautiful case for altruism and interdependence that it is a shame Klein goes from "Competition Engenders Altruism" (p. 138) to "The time of the lone cowboy is over." Granted, even in the passage on page 138-139, Klein discusses competition in terms of a basketball team. However, elsewhere in the book he admits altruists can go overboard on being selfless.
This self-contradiction aside, this readable book elegantly synthesizes Daniel Goleman, V.S. Ramachandran, and TED Talks to successfully make its case that we are not only born altruists, except for a few freeloaders in the Free Rider experiment (pages 125-126), we develop this skill, even as two-year-olds, in order to survive and later because we like being social and giving. Nice Homo Sapiens DON'T finish last and neither do vampire bats (!)
In eleven chapters plus the questionable epilogue, Klein builds a systematic, witty case.
Chapter 1: Darwin was an extremely sympathetic person, exemplifying the revelation that we all can be altruists.
Chapter 2: Adam and Eve would have learned to cooperate had there been a refrigerator in the Garden of Eden and would have had an antennae for the Serpent cheating them out of eternal life.
Chapter 3: If you get ripped off by the neighbor you're helping and you still volunteer to visit his brother in prison, you are less of a schmuck than he is because he trusts no one.
Chapter 4: For mental power, the empathetic brain beats Frank Underwood's any day.
Chapter 5: Oxytocin and Vasopressin show "What's love got to do with it."
Chapter 6: Vampires are altruists and small children know that they've got to be adorable to thrive.
Chapter 7: Now that we are in love and sharing and empathetic, we're also upset over injustice and willing toe right it no matter the cost.
Chapter 8: Everything in moderation, or it can't take a village to raise a child if that village is wiped out trying to right a wrong.
Chapter 9: The dark sisters of selflessness can get radicalized in not just a village but a nation, defeating altruism.
Chapter 10: Confucius say love thy neighbor no matter what nation he lives in.
Chapter 11: Confucius say the exchange of information is great and people should share all over the World Wide Web.
Apologies for the tongue in cheek summaries as I altruistically share this information with you, and forgive Kleon for a minor flaw.
12 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
The New Human Nature
By Kevin L. Nenstiel
Conventional economics and biology sneer at generosity. People who give of themselves get fleeced regularly, and diminish their chances to survive and reproduce. Yet the world ordinary people occupy practically shimmers with mundane kindness; without it, we couldn't conduct urban economies or do industrial jobs. But what is altruism, really? How did it originate, and what encourages it to flourish? After centuries of debate, science may have some answers.
Though trained as a physicist, German author Stefan Klein has made a career writing about the points where science impacts general society--a Teutonic Carl Sagan, perhaps. In this case, his interests throw sharp light on neuroscience and psychology, though his investigations overlap with the growing domain of behavioral economics. And he draws a surprising conclusion: more than language or technology, generosity and altruism make us genuinely human.
Because humans cannot survive individually, much less thrive, evolution rewarded primordial humans who engaged in quid pro quo generosity. This persists today in acts of trust, kindness, and public ethics that make modern society possible. Yet the very conditions altruism fosters discourage people from behaving generously. Neuroscience tells us that human society may soon shift, requiring altruism to ensure continued human survival.
Science and natural philosophy have long speculated on the motivations behind altruism, speculations Klein partly recapitulates here. From Aristotelian ethics to Richard Dawkins' "Selfish Gene" theory, speculations have drawn on complex mixes of influences. But only recently has science reached the point where we can objectively analyze not only what people really do, but what mental and biological processes fuel these actions. Though highly complex, Klein explains the science eloquently.
Experimental techniques with Clint Eastwood titles, like The Prisoner's Dilemma, The Free Rider Game, and Ultimatum, allow researchers to observe human generosity (and stinginess) in action. Though many of these games have existed for decades, new neuroimaging technologies permit glimpses inside human brains, in real time, as people make key decisions and formulate ethical precepts. The results, as Klein describes them, are anything but obvious.
During such interactions, it turns out, we have opportunities to establish norms that make future dealings possible. The way we play the Free Rider Game, for instance, allows groups to agree on ethics, not just of generosity, but of how to penalize goldbrickers. This holds true across not only groups as small as two or three, but across entire societies. Democracy and capitalism absolutely rely upon neurological habits we acquire during such simple trust exercises.
Strangely, the approaches groups traditionally use to encourage altruism and punish greed don't really work. Klein shows how verbal praise and public recognition make much better motivators for good behavior than money or possessions. Paying people to do right actually counteracts meaningful gains. And punishments that originate "on high" have far less impact on bad behavior than mass peer pressure or censure from one's equals. Praise and scolding: who knew?
Klein's model refutes both common liberal and conservative lines about social organization. Top-down authoritarian government produces not honesty, but resistance, while libertarian ideals encourage mass defection from the social order. Effective codes of honesty instead percolate upward from the masses, and the people do a much better job punishing infringements than either the state or the private sector. Serious readings of Klein's conclusions will force sweeping reconsiderations of contemporary authority.
Stefan Klein's book runs short, but is packed with the kind of dense, surprising information we expect from Malcolm Gladwell or Charles Duhigg. He's informative, helpful, lucid, and frequently funny. I defy any reader, regardless of preformed positions on human nature, to read this book without having to reconsider what you think you think. Because if Klein's sources are right, human nature will soon have a new model.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
This is a good introduction to the debate
By Save the Elephants
This is a good introduction to the debate, and the anecdotal evidence for selfless, sacrificial acts is compelling. However, I wish that Klein had made a more convincing explanation for acts of wanton cruelty. In-group loyalty versus between-group hostility starts to explain them, but people sometimes seem as capable of spontaneous acts of hatred as they do spontaneous acts of benevolence, without a group to identify with or defend.
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