A collection of essays explores empathy, using topics ranging from street violence and incarceration to reality television and literary sentimentality to ask questions about people's understanding of and relationships with others.

"A Stanford psychologist offers a bold new understanding of empathy, and shows how we can expand our circle of care, even in these divisive times Empathy is in short supply. Isolation and tribalism are rampant. We struggle to understand people who aren't just like us, but find it easy to hate them. Studies show that we are less caring than we were even thirty years ago. In 2006, Barack Obama said that the United States is suffering from an "empathy...

"Bestselling author Michele Borba offers a 9-step program to help parents cultivate empathy in children, from birth to young adulthood--and explains why developing a healthy sense of empathy is a key predictor of which kids will thrive and succeed in the future. In our hyper-connected, social-media-saturated society, many of us (especially young people) are so obsessed with snapping "selfies" and living a virtual life online that we're forgetting...

"As a journalist suddenly skeptical of the power of words to tell the deepest truths of other people's stories, Jeff Sharlet turned to taking snapshots and posting them on Instagram- images that he then reflected on in words of extraordinary intimacy and power. A visionary work of radical empathy, this collection of images and reflections is framed by the two years between his father's heart attack and his own, a time defined by insomnia and late-...

"The New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-winning author of The Friend brings her singular voice to a story about the meaning of life and death, and the value of companionship. A woman describes a series of encounters she has with various people in the ordinary course of her life: an ex she runs into by chance at a public forum, an Airbnb owner unsure how to interact with her guests, a stranger who seeks help comforting his elderly mother,...

"For most of the approximately 200,000 years that our species has existed, we shared the planet with at least four other types of humans. They were smart, they were strong, and they were inventive. Neanderthals even had the capacity for spoken language. But, one by one, our hominid relatives went extinct. Why did we thrive? In delightfully conversational prose and based on years of his own original research, Brian Hare, professor in the department...

"Inside this elegant, horse-drawn establishment, a feathery cook works the grill, serving up tasty dishes for shift-workers and operagoers alike...As the evening's service winds down, weary Owl spots trembling Mouse. Has he found his own night lunch, or will he invite this small sweeper inside for a midnight feast for two?"--

"MIT psychologist and bestselling author of RECLAIMING CONVERSATION and ALONE TOGETHER, Sherry Turkle's intimate memoir of love and work In this vivid and poignant narrative, Sherry Turkle ties together her coming-of-age story and her groundbreaking research on technology, empathy, and ethics. Growing up in post-war Brooklyn in a house filled with mysteries, Turkle searched for clues. She mastered the codes that governed her secretive mother's world....

Seeing the world very differently because of her Asperger Syndrome, young Lauren struggles to navigate the challenges of school life and masters tricks to stay calm, understand others' feelings and let her personality shine. By the award-winning author of Count Me In.