Billiken Bookmark: Summer Reading Picks From SLU Authors

Behave: The Biology of Human at Our Best and Our Worst by Robert M. Salopsky (Penguin Press, 2017)

This book is scientific, non-fiction written to explain human behaviors from a neuroscientific and research-based experience. The book uses a individualistic as well as a societal developmental model. He uses not only scientific papers, but also well-known and lesser known case studies or stories to support research findings as well as to provide a tangible understanding of the concept. The author asks challenging questions to explain the pitfalls of society and human behavior as well as the virtues of human behavior.

The book is well researched and takes an in-depth look at the human experience. There is a specific focus on neuroscience and considering the implications from both a cultural and learned process as well as the meaning behind the physiological responses ubiquitous across the humans. It also brings in appropriate animal research models to explain a foundation for the basis of the literature when human models in research are unavailable.

The text is well written. I appreciate the synthesis and integration of research, case studies, and well known depictions of society that help illustrate support for the research. Few books are able to so thoroughly synthesize these components into a seamless illustration of knowledge.

This book is inspiring and calls me as a faculty member to help solve the world’s problems. This text speaks to issues present in our society and how culture and neurobiology can explain the darkness of human behavior.

As a mental health professor, the clear implications of neuroplasticity present in the text inspire me to encourage my students to solve these common issues across society. Thus, if we can unpack and understand the problem, we can work to solve the problem while being mindful of the environmental and biological factors weighing on society and patients.

Dixie Meyer, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the medical family therapy program in family and community medicine. She is the author or co-author of over 50 publications including an international marriage preparation program. She focuses specifically on neurobiological applications to interpersonal relationships, with particular attention to romantic couples.