Jeremy Adam Smith

"The Compassionate Instinct... combines hard science with anecdotes and interviews, and features contributions from luminaries such as Frans B.M. de Waal, Steven Pinker, Alfie Kohn and Daniel Goleman. The Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Michael Pollan and Robert Reich also make appearances. Offering answers to such questions as 'Does compassion promote altruistic behavior?' (it can), the book may be the ultimate antidote to snark."
-- Nora Krug, The Washington Post

Scientists of many disciplines are making discoveries about how and why people do good--and these discoveries are transforming our perceptions of humans as brutish and self-seeking. Science is revealing that behaviors and emotions like altruism, forgiveness, kindness, and empathy are true evolutionary adaptations and essential to our survival as a species.

Written by the leading scientists in the field, including Dacher Keltner, Frans de Waal, Paul Ekman, and Steven Pinker, the essays in The Compassionate Instinct synthesize personal stories with the latest empirical research to explore not only what it means to be happy and fulfilled, but also what it means to lead an ethical, compassionate life.

Edited by Jeremy Adam Smith, Dacher Keltner, and Jason Marsh. Published by WW Norton & Co. in January 2010. Order it now at Amazon.com