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ERIC Number: EJ1020461
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: N/A
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0145-9635
EISSN: N/A
Our Better Angels
Barbieri, Richard
Independent School, v72 n3 Spr 2013
In the Winter 2013 issue of "Independent School," Richard Barbieri considered some of the distressing news about humanity being discovered by various physical and social scientists. Barbieri asserts in this issue that there are countervailing views and discoveries about our minds and our mores, enough for us to hope for the frequent, if not universal, triumph of "our better angels." Given the claim that we lack conscious control over the majority of our behaviors, it might seem that personal and societal improvement is a chimera, a mirage on the horizon that we may plod toward, but which we have no hope of reaching. Barbieri reviews five publications that he notes tell a very different story about what happens inside our heads: (1) "The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force," Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Sharon Begley; (2) "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business," Charles Duhigg; (3) "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness," Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstei; (4) "The Penguin and the Leviathan: How Cooperation Triumphs Over Self-Interest," Yochai Benkler; and (5) "A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster," Rebecca Solnit.
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Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative; Journal Articles
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A