The Elephant in the Brain

Hidden Motives in Everyday Life

Kevin Simler

Recommended By

Book Reviews

Naval Ravikant: "Fantastic read"

Book Synopsis

"The Elephant in the Brain" by Kevin Simler delves into the hidden motives that drive human behavior. Simler tackles the concept of self-deception and the ways in which we use it to deceive ourselves and others.

Drawing on neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and psychology, the book takes readers on a journey to uncover the hidden drivers of human actions in various domains, including politics, economics, and social interactions. Simler argues that humans are driven by self-interest and hidden motives, even when we are unaware of them.

Examining topics like virtue signaling, status-seeking, and the desire for attention, Simler reveals how these hidden motives often contradict the surface-level reasons we provide for our actions. He argues that our true motives often revolve around gaining power, status, and resources, and that we engage in various forms of self-deception to hide these desires.

In addition, the book explores collective delusions and how society as a whole engages in self-deception to maintain social harmony and stability. Simler challenges common assumptions about human behavior, shedding light on our unconscious motivations and encouraging readers to recognize and understand the elephant in the brain.

"The Elephant in the Brain" offers a thought-provoking exploration of our hidden motives and the role they play in shaping society. It provides valuable insights into human behavior and urges readers to confront the uncomfortable truths about ourselves in order to create a more self-aware and understanding world.

Explore More Books

See All
The Agile Gene
How to Make Millions with Your Ideas
In the Heart of the Sea
The Hot Hand
The Anatomy of Buzz
A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis
The Infidel and the Professor
The Bullish Case for Bitcoin
How To Turn Down A Billion Dollars
Happy Money
Beating The Street
Sea Flight
More Than Enough
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The Great CEO Within
Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero
Taken for Granted
Bend The Curve
Superforecasting
100 Plus
Billy Martin
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
The Art of Seduction
The Neverending Story
The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide to Becoming a Whiskey Know-It-All
The Attention Merchants
12 Rules For Life
The Net & The Butterfly
Endure
The Story of Civilization: The Age of Louis XIV
The Psychology of Intelligence Analysis
Something Deeply Hidden
Opportunity Knocks
The Construction of Social Reality
Trillion Dollar Triage
The Botany of Desire
The Skeptical Environmentalist
Scale
The Little Book of Bull Moves
The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
Einstein
Product Design for the Web
The Surrender Experiment
The Bet
Double your Profits
The Closing of the American Mind
Hidden Potential
Blue Ocean Strategy
Talent Is Overrated
Mohammed and Charlemagne
Makers
Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children
Home Work
The Fear Factor
Viral
Technofeudalism
Putin's Kleptocracy
The Alchemist
Art of the Living Dead
Natural Born Heroes
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross
No Bull
Innovating Out of Crisis
Bargaining for Advantage
Paper Lion
Matthew Barney & Elizabeth Peyton
An Immense World
The True Believer
Modern Engineering for Design of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines
Roger Ailes: Off Camera
Nobody Wants To Read Your Sh*t
The Healing Journey
The Science of Success
A Mathematician's Lament
Chasing the Light
Mapping the Mind
Gold In The Grass
A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things
Not Fade Away
The Tao of Charlie Munger
Margin of Safety
Stress Test
My Family and Other Animals
The Inner Lives of Markets
Confidence Game
Absolute Tao
Dream Big
Origin Story
Endurance
The Man Who Fed The World
You Can Be a Stock Market Genius
Freakonomics
The Story of Civilization: The Reformation
Every Life Is On Fire
Measure What Matters
Black Elk
Traction
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
The Weather Makers
Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil