Great Diane Rehm Interview With David Brooks, Author Of "The Road To Character"

This 1935 file photo shows U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, center, during an inspection tour of the San Francisco tower of the Golden Gate Bridge in California.

"The Moral Bucket List," David Brooks

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-moral-bucket-list-david-brooks.html

Alan: I always listen to Brooks but never warm to him. In his NPR "talking head" role alongside Mark Shields, I always await Shields' liberal view as antidote to Brooks' dependable stodginess.

However everything I have heard about Brooks' new book, "The Road To Character" tells me that Brooks has a firm handle on "how to grow," even though his political opinions usually impress me as "deficient." 

David Brooks: “The Road To Character”

Audio Clip: http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-04-16/david-brooks-the-road-to-character

In the 1950s, a Gallup poll asked high school seniors if they considered themselves to be a very important person. Just 12 percent said yes. When the same question was asked 50 years later, 80 percent of students said they think they are very important. In a new book, columnist David Brooks explores this broad cultural shift toward inflated self worth. He argues that a central fallacy of modern life is that focus on one’s own importance and success leads to happiness and a meaningful life. Brooks argues instead that in order to have a truly fulfilling life, you must learn how to forget yourself.

Guests

• David Brooks columnist with the "The New York Times" and author of several books, including "Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There" and "The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement."

Read A Featured Excerpt

Excerpted from “The Road to Character” by David Brooks. Copyright 2015. Reprinted with permission from Penguin Random House. All Rights Reserved.

Related Links

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  The Road to Character

  By David Brooks

  Random House

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