The Road to Character

De: David Brooks

Narrado por: Arthur Morey, David Brooks

Number-one New York Times best seller

David Brooks challenges us to rebalance the scales between the focus on external success - “résumé virtues” - and our core principles.

Named one of the best books of the year by The Economist

With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column and his previous best sellers, 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.

Looking to some of the world's greatest thinkers and inspiring leaders, Brooks explores how, through internal struggle and a sense of their own limitations, they have built a strong inner character. Labor activist Frances Perkins understood the need to suppress parts of herself so that she could be an instrument in a larger cause. Dwight Eisenhower organized his life not around impulsive self-expression but considered self-restraint. Dorothy Day, a devout Catholic convert and champion of the poor, learned as a young woman the vocabulary of simplicity and surrender. Civil rights pioneers A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin learned reticence and the logic of self-discipline, the need to distrust oneself even while waging a noble crusade.

Blending psychology, politics, spirituality, and confessional, The Road to Character provides an opportunity for us to rethink our priorities and strive to build rich inner lives marked by humility and moral depth.

“Joy,” David Brooks writes, “is a byproduct experienced by people who are aiming for something else. But it comes.”

Praise for The Road to Character

“A hyper-readable, lucid, often richly detailed human story.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“This profound and eloquent book is written with moral urgency and philosophical elegance.” (Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree and The Noonday Demon)

“A powerful, haunting book that works its way beneath your skin.” (The Guardian)

“Original and eye-opening... Brooks is a normative version of Malcolm Gladwell, culling from a wide array of scientists and thinkers to weave an idea bigger than the sum of its parts.” (USA Today)

©2015 David Brooks (P)2015 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Brooks himself delivers the introduction, clearly and engagingly explaining how a career as a pundit, often rewarded for shallow cleverness, has made him yearn for more depth and significance. But how to achieve it? As read by Arthur Morey with lovely pacing and an interested inflection, he finds that one looks to those who have gone before." (AudioFile)

“[Brooks] emerges as a countercultural leader.... The literary achievement of The Road to Character is inseparable from the virtues of its author. As the reader, you not only want to know about Frances Perkins or Saint Augustine. You also want to know what Brooks makes of Frances Perkins or Saint Augustine. The voice of the book is calm, fair and humane. The highlight of the material is the quality of the author’s moral and spiritual judgments.” (Michael Gerson, The Washington Post)

“If you want to be reassured that you are special, you will hate this book. But if you like thoughtful polemics, it is worth logging off Facebook to read it.” (The Economist)

Good content, disappointing delivery

The narrator overacted the book’s content, for my taste buds.
The content is somber already, for which I was prepared, so in my opinion adding a somber delivery to the text resulted in an overkill.

Very heady stuff and great historic perspective

Where does The Road to Character rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I wouldn't call it "easy listening" but it is highly educational. I learned a lot about important historical figures. LOVED the narrator. Very thought-provoking.

Amazingly insightful and balanced!

Should be required reading for all high school and college students. I recommend it to everyone!!!!

Inspiring

interesting stories of challenge to help us reflect on our own and our culture's quest for authenticity and integrity.

A must read or listen

This book was really good. I'm not a history enthusiastic but I liked how Mr. Brook weaved history and pointed out how each person in history contributed to the world and US history. I especially liked that he talked about the character of each along with their weaknesses. Thought provoking read.

Best book that I have read in a decade

The biographical approach to discussing character development works. I was able to see elements of myself and better understand loved ones through the various personalities presented in this book.

This book has touched me in a thoughtful and meaningful way.

Thank You Mr. Brooks!

Thought provoking challenge on how to live life

This book challenges my thinking and fills me with an eagerness to examine my thoughts and actions, big and small. Am I on the road to character? Also, I am inclined to read Tolstoy and Eliot.

Crucial, forgotten information!

People have forgotten about how to become better people, instead worrying about "getting more toys" or more admirers .....this is a book that might help save civilization itself....

What is the good?

Brooks provides a workable framework for ethical decision making and uses nearly a dozen biographies to support his thesis. Well done.

Worth The Wait

Don't give up on the book; it finishes ever so sweetly. There's a small dry hump in the middle, but soon gives way to a deeper meaning that you'll have to be patient enough to find.