I have no idea how to categorize a book like “The Social Animal” by David Brooks. It’s kind of a fiction book built around non-fiction research… but it ends up coming across as neither a cohesive story nor a collection of fun facts.That’s not to say that it isn’t interesting. Certainly there are a number of great factoids and interesting characterizations that will make you realize, “Hey! I do that!”. And for some people, reading the narrative passages may help them apply some of the scientific research that is so easily accessible now with books like “Freakonomics” and “The Tipping Point“.

So I’m kind of lukewarm on Brooks’ book. Perhaps that was because it came with SUCH a high recommendation that I expected this book to change my life somehow. And I don’t think that it did. But it did pull together some great research from a number of disparate fields in a way that intrigued me and allowed me to come to larger conclusions than perhaps I had before. So to be fair, perhaps Brooks’ book is a larger accomplishment than it will get credit for.