Book Talk

The December Book Talk will be presented by Will Ethridge, a former Chairman of the American Association of American Publishers and CEO of Pearson Education. He will discuss two books, "Behave" by Robert Sapolksy of Stanford University and "The Better Angels of Our Nature" by Steven Pinker of Harvard University. Both books explore common themes, such as what drives human behavior and to what extent are humans controlled by evolutionary biology or by experience and environment. The authors examine the evidence regarding whether human society is becoming less violent over time and whether there is such a thing as "free will." The New York Times Book Review said that "Sapolsky has produced a magisterial synthesis of psychology and neurobiology" and that Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature is a supremely important book."