Don’t torture yourself

In the first chapter we are serenaded with a sales pitch to buy his previous work and the rest of the book follows in suit with that shallowness.

This audio book presents like those people we have all met throughout our lives where their insecurity is revealed by their obvious need to use big words and technical mumbo-jumbo to convince us of their importance or knowledge on a topic.

If you are above the age of 10, you have witnessed that people with a bad attitude that lash out in anger, will make for a negative social/work environment. The author fills us in on this obvious reality with boring fluff of a Security Guard-was-rude-to-me type story. Apparently he walked into a restricted area and his negative lingering emotions he felt as a result of getting yelled at was some sort of epiphany. Gee!! Feel like you learned something? In another example he attempts to mystify us with his wana-be-intelligencia with the idea that “Technology offers nominal communication in actual isolation”. It’s funny how the Orator puts some emphasis on this, as if we have been revealed a truth from God. (Just re-read that quote a few times and that is how the unsubstantive fluff in this book reads.) He then drones on about some perceived disconnect by crapping on cell phones, computers, and iPods. You see, while he plays us ipod people off like we are disconnected with society, the reality is that discussion with arbitrary people in a big city has little ROI. I decided to invest my attention more wisely. As a result of my "ipod", I learned Spanish and now, in contrast to the authors several examples of how technology puts up walls, I actually have been able to get closer to exponentially more people since there are many Spanish speaking people in my area. I also have a new appreaciation for beautiful cultures that I had no access without knowledge of their language.

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62 people found this helpful

Good, if it didn't repeat

This book is good... if abridged. The unabridged is extremely long and repetative. If it's unabridged or nothing, I would choose nothing.

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62 people found this helpful

Word Soup

The author writs like this ... blah blah blah ... a mildly interesting psychological study .... a brief insight into its meaning ... blah blah blah .... blah blah blah.

It is just words on, and on, and on. After 2 hours of listening I am still waiting for some really useful insights. They are all small and obvious so far.

I am throwing in the towel at 2 hours. BTW - Gladwell has some of these studies in "Blink", and it is much more interesting to listen to.

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32 people found this helpful

Incredibly lengthy and repetitive.

Narration was fantastic, but about halfway through the author started repeating himself so much that I stopped listening three times in the course of 4 months. What I thought was going to be a delightful review of some Psychological findings ended up becoming a boring lecture, worded slightly differently about 10 times.

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10 people found this helpful

A Triumph!

This book is well laid out, full of useful information, and is an excellent, current, overview of issues facing society. Should be required reading for every person on the planet, as there are helpful and instructive ways to improve a person's life. (A kid version would be wonderful)

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9 people found this helpful

A Companion to Emotional Intelligence

Daniel Goleman has expanded his work in Emotional Intelligence by incorporating new research findings from neuro-sociology, - plasticity, and -psychology. He applies this new knowledge to social circumstances broadly defined.

I wish that Goleman had gone further than he has in this particular volume. The first section deals with neuroplasticity and its immplicaton. Then the remainder of the book takes up various related topics. The key, to my thinking, would have been to directly apply what is available in the literature to social interactions. His next book will give us more to think about.

Otherwise, the book is informative and interesting. It is well read by Dennis Boutsikaris.

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7 people found this helpful

Know Thyself

Every now and then you come across a book like this with many "ah ha" moments in it. Simply awesome! To finally understand the awkward moments and strange behaviors in others and in ourselves, Social Intelligence maps the why and what-on-earth-were-you-thinking areas of the brain that cause human beings to do the things they do. This book is worth many listens.

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7 people found this helpful

Excellent content, very enlightening

Goleman details a perspective on social intelligence that differs from the traditionally accepted view. This presentation is not only very perceptive, but very useful in understanding intelligence. It is the human experience to see things from another's perspective, to understand by comparing ideas. It is this vector that Goleman pursues in Social Intelligence
The New Science of Human Relationships. This is useful to apply the effect of social pressure, social presence and social understanding to improve understanding that would otherwise be more static and less productive. I am often frustrated with the field of psychology for fogging understanding by applying layers of metaphor to explain behavior. I do not see this as progress. Goleman applies neuroscience, anthropology and practical problem solving to bring the topic new light.

This book changed the way I think about thinking, in a good way, I think. Social influence and peer pressure have traditionally been portrayed typically in a negative way, at least in modern society. To realize that human thinking is social thinking at its core gives better understanding of our thought process, logic, analysis, and values. I believe that my thinking is clearer in this context. Listen to this book and add your reviews. I highly recommend this book.

Narration is excellent. Very easy to listen and focus. Production quality is excellent. Recording quality is excellent.

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6 people found this helpful

It is an academic book

What disappointed you about Social Intelligence?

It seems to me the book is more like a graduate reference in Psychology or Psychotherapy, but it is not a self development book.
I did not enjoy it.

Would you ever listen to anything by Daniel Goleman again?

Yes

What three words best describe Dennis Boutsikaris’s performance?

Very good

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Social Intelligence?

The first 6 chapters.

Any additional comments?

it should be an Abridged book in one or two hours only.

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6 people found this helpful

Easy to Listern to and interesting!

I loved this book. Lots of accurate and interesting information. I did not find it cliche or outdated.

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4 people found this helpful