Review: The Social Animal By David Brooks

What Didn’t He Talk About?

David Brooks was such a familiar name yet I could not pinpoint where I had heard his name before. But with Google available at the tip of my hand, it did not take long to find out. While I did not know the book he was there to discuss I had read The Social Animal. Being one of my favorite books I could not believe I was listening to him speak. His witty jokes and humorous introduction made it clear it was going to be an enjoyable seminar. There was nothing Brooks did not discuss and his various anecdotes and book references made is hour-long presentation seem quite short. One theme woven throughout his seminar was the importance of relationships and his story of Cathy & David struck a chord with me.

Cathy and David clearly were making a …show more content…
These children were not criminals or bad children but their circumstances sadly brought them to make certain decisions or were consequences of actions out of their control. With so many children in situations like this, it does not feel like one person or one couple can make a difference but as Brooks described their story, this couple was and it swelled my heart. Towards the end of his seminar, he presented his call to action about establishing schools that made a bridge between socio-economical classes and I couldn’t agree more. Much of what David Brooks presented I agreed with and I enjoyed having the opportunity to listen to him speak. The only issue was his soothing voice. His calm demeanor and tone was both enjoyable but also made it very difficult to stay awake. Even though he was quite humorous and entertaining towards the end I was beginning to doze off. But luckily the stories he brought up gave me something to hold on to. With this position paper what proved most difficult was talking about one point to discuss because he gave so much to write about. I genuinely enjoyed his presentation and hope to hear another lecture of his in the near