Behave

I just finished Behave by Robert Sapolsky. It’s one of these books everyone should read. The book basically outlines what causes us to behave in certain ways. The book is very comprehensive looking at how the brain works from a neuroscience perspective, then looks into the influence of hormones, over to habits and events change our brains (neuroplasticity), over to behaviors learned during our upbringing, to influence of our genes and epigenetics, to influences shaped by our cultures centuries and millennia before. It’s fascinating exposé explaining the multifaceted reasons why we are who we are 🙂 Getting a more thorough understanding of people’s behavior seems important especially during times of crisis that leads us to fight over the last remaining toilet paper and simultaneously brings out compassion in the most beautiful ways.