The Road to Character

1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERI wrote this book not sure I could follow the road to character, but I wanted at least to know what the road looks like and how other people have trodden it.—David Brooks   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. Responding to what he calls the culture of the Big Me, which emphasizes external success, Brooks challenges us, and himself, to rebalance the scales between our résumé virtues—achieving wealth, fame, and status—and our eulogy virtues, those that exist at the core of our being kindness, bravery, honesty, or faithfulness, focusing on what kind of relationships we have formed.