The Road to Character

　　結合心理學、社會學、宗教、精神意識等層次，在社會以自我追求財富、聲望來定義成功時，我們的生活是否應該回歸更深層的核心價值，如善良，勇敢，誠實，忠誠或該專注於什麼樣的關係？本書中以世界上的思想家與行動領導者在達成目標前，面臨自我內心的掙扎與自我限制的過程中，逐次建立起自我強大的內在性格為例，說明舊有時代，無論是來自宗教，或是社會規範的價值觀，如自律、約束、專注等，非但未過時，在社群自拍、自我主張等「我」意識高漲的今日，如何協助人們不致迷失在過於放大的自我中，保持清醒與自覺，品性由此建立。<博客來編譯>

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - David Brooks challenges us to rebalance the scales between the focus on external success--"r sum 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 bestsellers, 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

David Brooks is one of the nation’s leading writers and commentators. He is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times and appears regularly on PBS NewsHour and Meet the Press. He is the bestselling author of The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement; Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There; and On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense.