____twoism

Anyone have recommendations for good/interesting/informative books about human behavior, psychology, morality and ethics, etc, preferably by a somewhat recent and credible humanist author setting out to write and present info neutrally/objectively?

Also some current/relevant books on astrophysics/space?

For the second post: (cheesy title warning) The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene. Probably the best book on modern theoretical physics for the layman out there. He does a really decent job of getting the logic into your head re relativity, QM, and string theory.

Check out "This Is Your Brain On Music" by Daniel Levetin.

A neuroscientist, who used to produce records, talking about the science behind music and human responses to it. Fascinating.

I don't really know if this is what you're going for, but I really liked The power of now by Eckhart Tolle.
Has some very good self-reflecting/life lessons in it.

Thanks, buds! Awesome reccomendations so far

portiss: in the OP I was kinda trying to describe a book by a recent author that dissects the philosophy of things like joy, empathy and/or psychopothy and/or everything in between. Also breaks down and explores those things and/or a broader exploration of human psychology and also the nature or ethics and morality. Trying to avoid reading books by victorian philosophers though, because I always end up laughing at the unintentional antiquity of their writing and some of their ideas. That one time I was reading Rousseau and he started off a chapter with: "Before we begin, let us set aside all the facts."

A book I've not read for a while, but was very fundamental to me when I first did was To Have Or To Be by Erich Fromm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Have_or_to_Be%3F It's neither new (it's as old as me, but still very relevant) nor does it go into all of those things so maybe not entirely what you're after but it does lay out the materialistic vs anti-materialistic way of living and picks bits and bobs from philosophers and it was a good jumping off point for other reading. My ex did psych/phil and I tried reading along with her course books... they can be a bit dry.

DADDY MUST HAVE THIS, lol. I fuck with books from the 70's and 80's, lots of stories and ideas that still hold up. Thanks for the rec, just got a copy on amazon.

gfxtwin wrote:
portiss: in the OP I was kinda trying to describe a book by a recent author that dissects the philosophy of things like joy, empathy and/or psychopothy and/or everything in between. Also breaks down and explores those things and/or a broader exploration of human psychology and also the nature or ethics and morality. Trying to avoid reading books by victorian philosophers though, because I always end up laughing at the unintentional antiquity of their writing and some of their ideas. That one time I was reading Rousseau and he started off a chapter with: "Before we begin, let us set aside all the facts."

Whoops, my bad!

It's not exactly what you're looking for, but I recommend The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. It's about an American migrant family in the 1930s when private farmland was being taken by the government. The book is basically all about the government screwing everyone over, then people either helping each other or screwing each other over again.

I've been toying with the idea of writing a manifesto on morality and ethics, I might post it here if it doesnt turn out as complete shit.

This...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Daft-Wee-Storie ... 1780893752