The Elephant in the Brain

Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson argue that much of human behaviour is driven by hidden, often self-serving motives we’d rather not admit, even to ourselves. Examining everything from body language to charity, education, and medicine, they show how we routinely deceive ourselves about why we do what we do. Provocative and clear-eyed, it’s an unsettling but illuminating tour of the selfish motives beneath our noblest-seeming behaviour.