Behave
by Robert M. Sapolsky
★ Top 25 book of 2017 · #19 on Best Books of 2017
Robert Sapolsky spent over a decade on this ambitious attempt to explain why people act as they do. He moves backward from the instant of a behavior, through brain activity, hormones, childhood, genes, culture and deep species history.
Best for: Curious readers who enjoy big, multi-angle explanations of human behavior and biology
Behave is #19 on BookWard's Best Books of 2017, out of 73 2017 books that cleared our data bar.
What Behave is about
Why do people do what they do? Robert M. Sapolsky spent more than ten years working toward his answer in Behave, and he builds it by moving backward through time. He starts at the instant a behavior occurs, then steps further and further back until he reaches the deep history of our species and the genes we inherited from it.
The first layer is the brain, and what is going on there a second before someone acts. Next comes the question of what sight, sound or smell set the nervous system off. After that he looks at hormones, which in the hours and days beforehand can make a person more or less responsive to those triggers.
The book explores how biology and environment together shape human behavior. Sapolsky keeps the science approachable. It will suit curious general readers who want a thorough, step-by-step account of what lies behind our actions.
Behave on the Best Books of 2017
Behave came out in 2017. Of the 73 books first published in 2017 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #19 on our Best Books of 2017 list.
Why it made the list: 629 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (30 ratings); 25 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2017 list
- Make Your Bed William H. McRaven, #17
- Pachinko Min Jin Lee, #18
- Origin Dan Brown, #20
- Unfuck Your Brain Faith G. Harper, #21
See all Best Books of 2017 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2016 Best Books of 2018.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 572 want to read it, 25 are reading it now and 32 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.9 out of 5 from 30 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 84 | 55% |
| Reader love | 30 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 79 | 20% |
Questions about Behave
When was Behave published?
Behave by Robert M. Sapolsky was first published in 2017.
Was Behave one of the best books of 2017?
Behave is #19 on BookWard's Best Books of 2017, out of 73 2017 books that cleared our data bar. 629 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (30 ratings); 25 are reading it right now.
Why is Behave on the Best Books of 2017 list?
629 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (30 ratings); 25 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 2017
- The Hate U Give Angie Thomas, #1
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid, #2
- A Court of Wings and Ruin Sarah J. Maas, #3
- One of Us Is Lying Karen M. McManus, #4
- The Dark Prophecy Rick Riordan, #5
- Why We Sleep Matthew P. Walker, #6
See the full Best Books of 2017, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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