There are not different disciplinary buckets. This is because the boundaries between different categories are often arbitrary, but once some arbitrary boundary exists, we forget that it is arbitrary and get way too impressed with its importance…
But it can wreak havoc on your ability to think about those facts. Putting facts into nice cleanly demarcated buckets of explanation has its advantages––for example, it can help you remember facts better. We tend to use a certain cognitive strategy when dealing with complex, multifaceted phenomena, in that we break down those separate facets into categories, into buckets of explanation…The goal of this book is to avoid such categorial thinking. Sapolsky begins with a necessary critique of how scientists typically explain human behavior, which is to break it down into different “buckets of explanation,” each of which comprises a distinct realm of inquiry: Since it would be folly to try to cover everything this book has to offer in a review, I’ll focus on explaining Sapolsky’s methodology, and then comment on just a few of his most important findings. Sapolsky is also transparent about his own biases as a “bleeding heart liberal,” making him a truly lovable genius ( and not just in the casual sense). I usually don’t care for comedy in nonfiction, but Sapolsky’s wry humor rarely misses the mark, and is complemented by an impressive ability to synthesize multiple perspectives and extricate sensible conclusions from dense and sometimes-conflicting data. Covering an almost inconceivably vast landscape of scientific information, this neurobiologist/primatologist takes a playful but responsible approach to some heady topics, delving deep into humanity’s best and worst behaviors while never missing an opportunity to charm the reader with his perspicacious wit. This was my first journey into Sapolsky’s singular mind, both joyful and challenging.
Sapolsky’s Behave. This engrossing, encyclopedic examination of the causal mechanisms that determine human behavior is a monumental achievement of syncretic thought. It is not an overstatement to say that one could do no better than to alight on Robert M. Books that examine the relationship between science and morality have become ubiquitous, so readers interested in these important subjects need to choose carefully.
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