The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society Audiobook

" I am not sure what exactly i expected to learn from this book, but I do know it exceeded the range of topics i anticipated. It is part sociology, part neuro development, part animal behavior, part economics, part warfare, and part interesting chimp and monkey stories. It was a thought provoking read (or listen, in my case) that expanded the way I view both human and animal behavior. "

" It's true many people equate human kindness and other notions of justice, compassion and forgiveness as something separately human. Primatologist, de Waal makes an excellent case that animals too demonstrate compassion and kindness. The time of thinking 'bad' human behavior should be labeled 'animalistic' or 'wild' should now be considered a way of the past... "

" Iedereen moet kennis hebben over de intelligentie van primaten, hun samenwerking en empathie. Dat heeft consequenties hoe we met dieren omgaan. "

" This is a really great read, very interesting. I learned some seriously new things about empathy and even why we yawn. REALLY cool book. "

" This book is really hard to rate. I liked this book and I love DeWaal so I feel like a dick for only giving it 3 stars, but there were so many cringeable moments that I can't in good conscious give it the 4 star ratting I would like. My big complaint is DeWaal relies so heavily on observational methods, which is very interesting and useful, but then dismisses critics (who regard observational findings as inconclusive) as big reductionistic meanies who are too un creative or tin hearted to understand that animals have empathy and are intelligent. I think almost everyone (with some notable exceptions e.g. Skinner and Ted Negent) intuitively understands that animals are intelligent and empathetic. The reason biologists and social scientists want systematic, experimentally derived evidence is because they want to understand the exact mechanisms of said phenomena (for various excellent reasons). Furthermore, DeWaal exercises every opportunity to present experimental evidence that support his claims. Beyond that, the book is discursive and disorganized, making it nearly useless as a reference for later use. The book is essentially preaching to a choir (of which I am a member). Entertaining and confirming of some good feelings, but low on hard use value. "

" A rewarding read, especially for those who wish to reach a reasonable middle ground between the half-truths of both the economically ignorant "collectivists" and the self-righteously greedy "social Darwinists". "

" This is one of the best books i've ever read. Learning about empathetic traits that we share with other animals is compelling evidence that caring for others is adaptive and quite an old trait. I would recommend this book to any bleeding heart such as myself. "

" It was hard for me to listen to this book without any bias, when I kept hearing the author make statements (often political) that I disagreed with. Although, I did thoroughly enjoy hearing about elephants. "

" (re-imagining original Star Trek series in light of man's inherent empathy....) "

" The Age of Empathy is a good, light read. It gets a little political, which I could have done without even though it sounds like I mostly agree with the author. Anybody who wants to hear about apes being better people than people are without too much brain-hurt should pick it up. "

" Listened to this audio book four times and plan to visit the primate research center. His work on empathy informs my inter-species learning theory and language theory. "

" school book...aka I don't care much for it. "

" this book had a lot of potential. unfortunately, there was a lot of discussion about research on chimps in facilities which i do not agree with. "

" Lots of interesting animal stories. Easy to read but a little long winded and redundant in places. I enjoyed it at one level but I think he diluted his own message with stretched criticisms of others (Dawkins). That distracted me from fully appreciating the book. "

" Highest marks for this book. Uses examples from the animal world to reflect on human motivations.Energizing and optimistic. "

" ...values we need taught by animals. scholarly yet smooth read. (read sonetime prior to date indicated) "

" It was hard for me to listen to this book without any bias, when I kept hearing the author make statements (often political) that I disagreed with. Although, I did thoroughly enjoy hearing about elephants. "

" The author takes the evolutionary cliche "survival of the fittest" and reveals it to be a shallow, oversimplification of the origin of the human species. Humans developed empathy and learned to form successful societies through cooperation, much as apes and other social animals did. "

" I do think that de Waal's way of reading human ideals into animal behavior, while they make for a good book, aren't necessarily the best science. Still, it was interesting. "

" A rewarding read, especially for those who wish to reach a reasonable middle ground between the half-truths of both the economically ignorant "collectivists" and the self-righteously greedy "social Darwinists". "