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Rick Shenkman

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Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics Kindle Edition

by Rick Shenkman (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 56 ratings

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Can a football game affect the outcome of an election? What about shark attacks? Or a drought? In a rational world the answer, of course, would be no. But as bestselling historian Rick Shenkman explains in Political Animals, our world is anything but rational. Drawing on science, politics, and history, Shenkman explores the hidden forces behind our often illogical choices.

Political Animals challenges us to go beyond the headlines, which often focus on what politicians do (or say they'll do), and to concentrate instead on what's really important: what shapes our response. Shenkman argues that, contrary to what we tell ourselves, it's our instincts rather than arguments appealing to reason that usually prevail. Pop culture tells us we can trust our instincts, but science is proving that when it comes to politics our Stone Age brain often malfunctions, misfires, and leads us astray.

Fortunately, we can learn to make our instincts work in our favor. Shenkman takes readers on a whirlwind tour of laboratories where scientists are exploring how sea slugs remember, chimpanzees practice deception, and patients whose brains have been split in two tell stories. The scientists' findings give us new ways of understanding our history and ourselves -- and prove we don't have to be prisoners of our evolutionary past."

In this engaging, illuminating, and often riotous chronicle of our political culture, Shenkman probes the depths of the human mind to explore how we can become more political, and less animal.

Print length

337 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

January 5, 2016
File size

4126 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

An amiable tour of the socioscientific evidence that accounts for our political miscalculations.-- "Kirkus"

About the Author

Rick Shenkman is an award-winning investigative reporter, a New York Times bestselling author, and the publisher and editor of the History News Network, a website that puts the news into historical perspective. An elected fellow of the Society of American Historians, he appears regularly on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

A veteran voice artist, Tom Zingarelli has produced and narrated many audiobooks in the last several years. He has also recorded books for the Connecticut State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. His voice was featured on the popular PBS children's television program Between the Lions and in the off-Broadway production of Ruthless, the Musical.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B016TX4EDK
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; 1st edition (January 5, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 5, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4126 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 337 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #314,023 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #65 in Civics
- #85 in Practical Politics
- #106 in Propaganda & Political Psychology

Customer Reviews:
4.3 56 ratings

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Rick Shenkman

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Rick Shenkman is the editor and founder of the History News Network, the website that features articles by historians commenting on current events. He can regularly be seen on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. He is a New York Times best-selling author of seven history books, including "Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History" and "Presidential Ambition: How the Presidents Gained Power, Kept Power and Got Things Done" (HarperCollins, 1999).

His latest book is "Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics" (Basic Books 2016). This book follows up his 2008 Amazon bestseller, "Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth About the American Voter" (Basic Books).

Educated at Vassar and Harvard, Mr. Shenkman is an Emmy award-winning investigative reporter and the former managing editor of KIRO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Seattle. In 1997 he was the host, writer and producer of a prime time series for The Learning Channel inspired by his books on myths. He gives lectures at colleges around the country on several topics, including American myths and presidential politics.

Mr. Shenkman can be reached by email at rickshenkman@gmail.com. His other books can be found on Amazon listed under "Richard Shenkman."

Go here for his resume: http://www.rickshenkman.com

Go here for his Political Animals website: http://stoneagebrain.com

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

56 global ratings

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Amazon Customer

and I was not disappointed. It was easy to read and entertaining enough ...

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2016

Verified Purchase

I was driving through California when I heard Mr. Shenkman as a guest on a radio talk show. He was talking about the strengths of each presidential candidate, describing each campaign in terms of its impact on the voters' psychology. The talk was so interesting that I HAD to go and buy his book, and I was not disappointed. It was easy to read and entertaining enough to pass the time quickly. One disclaimer: If you are a person who only votes based on party affiliation or have a favorite president that can do no wrong or is religious, this book may offend you (however, you must read it first and figure out why).

8 people found this helpful

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Robert Huddleston

WHERE WILL THE NOVEMBER VOTE TAKE US?

Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2016

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I’m well into the book. Of course it is hard going but equally so is the state of our politics. Meanwhile my local newspaper opined along the same line: Eight of ten voters are “essentially close-minded, unreasonable and irrational.” We know, and can tolerate, half of eligible voters not voting. But with eighty percent voters being essentially ill-informed and irrational the results of the coming November election can produce, at best, an incompetent chief executive and dangerous commander in chief. Perhaps a reading of POLITICAL ANIMALS will lead enough voters into the 20% bracket increasing it, hopefully, to 50% of voters that are “open-minded, reasonable, rational and informed.” Test yourself: Where do you fall?

12 people found this helpful

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David Aubrey

Clues to today's weird political environment

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2018

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In these days of divisive rhetoric and post-truth politics it is hard to understand the reasons why voters make the choices they do. Rick Shenkman's book, Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics, gives readers many clues. Recommended.

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Tina McPhetres

Where's the easy button?

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2016

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We are very lazy, and it seems that candidates spend a lot of money and energy on media we won't absorb. Unobstructed by facts or reality, they simply need to spin a yarn that touches a portion of the populace, or just look a certain way. We want our leaders to be brilliant and solve our problems with little effort required of us. Our biases are fascinating, and the author provides excellent examples of their impact on politics and our decisions. This book asks us to move beyond the instinctual response to politics and use active reasoning. It's a great read!

15 people found this helpful

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Chuck Jenkins

A must read!

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

A must read for everyone as we consider what influences us as we listen to the current presidential political dialogue. My wife and I are reading it together and pausing frequently to discuss how we feel the points made by Rick Shenkman affect our political decision making process. It has really opened my eyes to what impacts how I feel about the leading candidates and how I should react when others question me on my thinking.

3 people found this helpful

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ItsGood

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2016

Verified Purchase

for me not a lot new.

Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2016

Verified Purchase

Political Animals is a great read and Shenkman takes you through a thoughtful journey of why we are they way we are when it come to our politics and life in general. It's mind blowing how our minds blow it when it comes to politics.

8 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

I thought it was great, partly because it was easy to read

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

It provided background for many of my observations and explained a lot more. I thought it was great, partly because it was easy to read.

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