Suffering, Pleasure and the Key to a Good Life

The Sweet Spot

What if experiencing a good life involves more than just pleasure? 
 
Revealing the surprising roots of lasting happiness, pre-eminent psychologist Paul Bloom explains why suffering is an essential source of both pleasure and meaning in our lives. 
 
It seems obvious that pleasure leads to happiness - and pain does the opposite. And yet we are irresistibly drawn to a host of experiences that truly hurt, from the exhilarating fear of horror movies or extreme sport to the gruelling challenges of exercise, work, creativity and having a family. 
 
Drawing on ground-breaking findings, pre-eminent psychologist Paul Bloom explores the pleasures of suffering and reveals why the activities that provide the most satisfaction are often the ones that involve the greatest sacrifice. Embracing this truth, he shows, is the key to a life well lived. 
 
'Paul Bloom can always be counted on to take your confident assumptions about humanity and turn them upside down' Susan Cain, author of Quiet 
 
'An exhilarating antidote to toxic positivity, this captivating book will challenge you to rethink your vision of a good life' Adam Grant, author of Think Again

An exhilarating antidote to toxic positivity, this captivating book will challenge you to rethink your vision of a good life

Clear, rightly sceptical, impossible to dislike

Provocative, fascinating and insightful - from one of the world's best writers and deepest thinkers about human behaviour

Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness

A profound meditation on happiness, family and meaning from one of the best writers we have about the human condition. A joy to read

A. J. Jacobs, author of It’s All Relative

Wonderfully humane, lucid and entertaining ... a brave and necessary tract for the times

A great, provocative book ... that will legitimately change how you think about the world and your own sense of morality

Paul Bloom is Professor of Psychology at University of Toronto and the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale University. His research explores the psychology of morality, identity and pleasure. Bloom is the recipient of multiple awards and honours, including most recently the million-dollar Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize. He has written for scientific journals such as Nature and Science, and for the New York Times, New Yorker, Atlantic and Guardian. He is the author or editor of eight books, including Just Babies, How Pleasure Works, Descartes' Baby and most recently Against Empathy.

The Case for Rational Compassion

Against Empathy

This landmark scientific investigation by one of the world's leading psychologists reveals empathy to be our most dangerous emotion

Bloom dismantles the argument that empathy is the basis of all morality … Empathy, it turns out, is sentimental, superficial and racist

The title may shock, but this is a book of calm reason and expansive compassion. It’s also a pleasure to read: warm, lucid, and thought-provoking

Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature

I couldn’t put this brilliantly argued book down. Engaging and witty, learned and stim&shy;ulating, provocative and packed with cutting-edge findings, Against Empathy is sure to start many important debates

Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Despite a near consensus about the merits of empathy, Paul Bloom shows that it is often just the warm embrace of prejudice – and, like anger, a reliable source of moral confusion. Against Empathy is a thrilling book, and reading it could well make you a better person

I went in a sceptic and emerged a convert … one of the most thought-provoking, and ultimately convincing, books I’ve read in a long time

Maria Konnikova, author of The Confidence Game

Brilliant, powerful, and provocative, Against Empathy is sure to be one of the most controversial books of our time

Bloom's point is a good one ... In a time of post-truth politics, his book offers a much-needed call for facts

A deliberately maverick work – astringent, provocative, often witty and unabashedly against a prevailing culture ... I am staunchly with Bloom

A brilliant, witty, and convincing defence of rational generosity against its pain-feeling detractors. Read this book and you will never think about empathy, goodness, or cold- blooded reason the same way again

Larissa MacFarquhar, author of Strangers Drowning

Plaudits to Bloom for speaking up, not only against the overemphasis on empathy, but also in favour of reason. Bloom takes readers on a stimulating tour of current research in psychology, mixed with some older philosophy, that will educate and entertain readers. A wise and important book.

Peter Singer, author of The Most Good You Can Do

Invigorating, relevant and often very funny

An interesting and highly topical work of moral philosophy by psychologist … about the ancient conflict between reason and emotion, science and sentiment … an important book

Compiles evidence from a range of sources to show that empathy can be innumerate, biased, parochial and inconsistent and can push us towards inaction at best and racism and violence at worst

Paul Bloom’s wonderfully humane, lucid and entertaining demolition of the empathy-worshippers… is a brave and necessary tract for the times

In Against Empathy, Bloom provides a thoughtful, considered, empirically grounded case which challenges many notions that we often accept as good without really thinking them through… Against Empathy is a wonderfully argued, provocative polemic against the trend to see empathy as an unalloyed good

In a divided world, empathy is not the solution, it is the problem. 
 
We think of empathy &ndash; the ability to feel the suffering of others for ourselves &ndash; as the ultimate source of all good behaviour. But while it inspires care and protection in personal relationships, it has the opposite effect in the wider world. As the latest research in psychology and neuroscience shows, we feel empathy most for those we find attractive and who seem similar to us and not at all for those who are different, distant or anonymous. Empathy therefore biases us in favour of individuals we know while numbing us to the plight of thousands. Guiding us expertly through the experiments, case studies and arguments on all sides, Paul Bloom ultimately shows that some of our worst decisions &ndash; in charity, child-raising, criminal justice, climate change and war &ndash; are motivated by this wolf in sheep's clothing. 
 
Brilliantly argued, urgent and humane, Against Empathy overturns widely held assumptions to reveal one of the most profound yet overlooked sources of human conflict.

The Origins of Good and Evil

Just Babies

The distinguished Yale psychologist explores the origins of human morality and what the study of babies and toddlers can tell us about good and evil.

Take a tour through the latest and most amazing research in child psychology and come back with a better understanding of the strange things adults do. Bloom shows us how a first rate scientist integrates conflicting findings, broad scholarship and deep humanity to draw a nuanced and often surprising portrait of human nature, with all its beauty, horror and hope.

Jonathan Haidt, author of The Happiness Hypothesis

Just Babies is exactly the combination of penetrating insight, cutting-edge science, and elegant prose that readers have come to expect from one of psychology's best writers and sharpest minds.

In Just Babies, Paul Bloom provides a wonderful, in-depth look at how our morality develops from infancy onward, making the strong case for the subtle interplay of genes and environment in the way we turn out - a must for social science enthusiasts and parents.

Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational

The Origins of Good and Evil is an ambitious subtitle, but this book earns it. Paul Bloom combines graceful, witty writing with intellectual rigour to produce a compelling account of how and why people are so wonderful and so horrible.

Robert Wright, author of The Moral Animal

Bloom, ever brisk and authoritative, generally focuses on how things are rather than on how developmental psychology might inform philosophy

Tackles the moral claims of philosophy and religion, arguing that the natural selection of evolution instilled in us the foundations for moral thought and action

[Bloom's] book is the latest to probe the scientific underpinnings of morality. But Bloom is a serious player, having conducted some of the field's notable experiments… In a lively, accessible style, Bloom also draws on research into adults from many societies

[A] witty, elegant account... It may not be fashionable, but Bloom's sober stance at the frontier of the science of morality is much to be admired

Bloom has a talent for distilling scholarly work (his and others’) into accessible, appealing prose

A charming, informative odyssey through the world of contemporary developmental research

From Sigmund Freud to Jean Piaget, psychologists have long believed that we begin life as blank moral slates. Most of us take for granted that babies are born selfish and that it is the role of society – and especially parents – to transform them from little sociopaths into civilized beings. Now, in Just Babies, Paul Bloom argues that humans are in fact hardwired with a sense of morality. Drawing on groundbreaking research at Yale, Bloom demonstrates that, even before they can speak or walk, babies judge the goodness and badness of others’ actions; act to soothe those in distress; and feel empathy, guilt, pride and righteous anger. 
 Still, this innate morality is limited, sometimes tragically. We are naturally hostile to strangers, prone to parochialism and bigotry. Drawing on insights from psychology, behavioral economics, evolutionary biology, and philosophy, Bloom explores how we have come to surpass these limitations. Along the way, he examines the morality of chimpanzees, criminals, religious extremists and Ivy League professors, and explores our often puzzling moral feelings about sex, politics, religion and race. 
 Moving seamlessly from the ideas of Darwin, Herodotus, and Adam Smith to The Princess Bride, Hannibal Lecter, and Louis C.K., Bloom rejects the fashionable view that adult morality is driven mainly by gut feelings and unconscious biases. Just as reason has driven our great scientific discoveries, he argues, it is reason and deliberation that makes possible our moral discoveries, such as the wrongness of slavery. Ultimately, it is through our imagination, our compassion and our uniquely human capacity for rational thought that we can transcend the primitive sense of morality we were born with, becoming more than just babies. 
 Vivid, witty and intellectually probing, Just Babies offers a radical new perspective on our moral lives.

Psychologists have long believed that we begin life as moral blank slates. Most of us take it for granted that babies are born selfish and that it is the role of society - and especially parents - to transform them from little sociopaths into civilised beings. Now, in Just Babies, Paul Bloom argue that humans are in fact hardwired with a sense of morality. Drawing on groundbreaking research, Bloom demonstrates that even before they can speak or walk, babies judge the goodness and badness of others' actions; act to soothe those in distress; and feel empathy, guilt, pride and righteous anger. 
 
Still, this innate morality is limited. We are naturally hostile to strangers, prone to parochialism and bigotry. Drawing on insights from psychology, behavioural economics, evolutionary biology and philosophy, Bloom explores how we have come to surpass these limitations. Along the way, he examines the morality of chimpanzees, criminals, religious extremists and Ivy League professors, and explores out often puzzling moral feelings about sex, politics, religion and race. 
 
Bloom rejects the fashionable view that adult morality is driven mainly by gut feelings and unconscious biases. Just as reason has driven our great scientific discoveries, it is reason and deliberation that makes possible our moral discoveries. Ultimately, it is through our imagination, our compassion and our uniquely human capacity for rational thought that we can transcend the primitive sense of morality we were born with, becoming more than just babies. 
 
Vivid, witty, and intellectually probing, Just Babies offers a radical new perspective on our moral lives.

Why we like what we like

How Pleasure Works

The internationally acclaimed psychologist Paul Bloom explores one of the most fascinating and fundamental engines of human behaviour - the new science of why we like what we like.

The book inside is an even better book than the one the title promises... Bloom is a superb writer. His gift is in writing beautifully but plainly, and anticipating everything a reader will need to know in order to appreciate the point he will ultimately make...it was a great pleasure to read

Paul Bloom is among the deepest thinkers and clearest writers in the science of mind today. He has a knack for coming up with genuinely new insights about mental life...and making them seem second nature through vivid examples and lucid explanations

Bloom is a serious professional who knows his stuff

Bloom's book is different from the slew already out there about happiness. No advice here about how to become happier by organising your closets; Bloom is after something deeper than the mere stuff of feeling good

This book is not just a pleasure, but a revelation, by one of psychology's deepest thinkers and best writers. Lucid and fascinating, you'll want to read it slowly and savor the experience

Reading his book is like stargazing with your favorite cool professor while high

In this eloquent and provocative book, Paul Bloom takes us inside the paradoxes of pleasure, exploring everything from cannibalism to Picasso to IKEA furniture. The quirks of delight, it turns out, are a delightful way to learn about the human mind

Following the path of pleasure, Bloom leads us through a menagerie of human strangeness. By the end of the trip, the 'magic inside us' begins to make sense. This book is a pearl, a work of great beauty and value, built up around a simple truth: that we are essentialists, tuned in to unseen order

How Pleasure Works has one of the best discussions I've read of why art is pleasurable, why it matters to us, and why it moves us so

Daniel Levitin, author of This Is Your Brain On Music

Pleasure is one of the most fascinating aspects of being human. But what is it? 
 
Exploring child development, philosophy, neuroscience and behavioural economics, Paul Bloom uncovers how universal habits explain what we like and why we like it. 
 
 
The average Briton spends over a day a week watching television. People slow their cars to look at gory accidents and go to sentimental movies that make them cry. Some men pay good money to be spanked by prostitutes. 
 
In this revealing and witty account, Paul Bloom examines the science behind these curious desires, attractions and tastes, exploring one of the most fascinating and fundamental engines of human behaviour. 
 
 
‘How Pleasure Works has one of the best discussions I've read of why art is pleasurable, why it matters to us, and why it moves us so’ Daniel Levitin, author of This Is Your Brain on Music

How Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human

Descartes' Baby

A striking exploration of how new approaches to child development can illuminate our understanding of the feelings and beliefs that show us at our most human - humour, disgust, art, religion and morality - by 'the wunderkind of his generation of cognitive scientists' (Steven Pinker)

'Lifts some weighty concepts with a lightness of touch. It's genuinely thoughtful and thought-provoking, rather than some wearingly trivial pop psychology book about how cute babies are.'

'This gem of a book explains how people can be so smart but at the same time construe the world in seemingly bizarre ways. Descartes' Baby is crystal clear, gracefully written, and filled with fascinating observations.'

'Simple and compelling... Bloom illuminates his arguments with fascinating case histories... Along the way Bloom offers psychological insight into all manner of puzzling questions... Bloom's underlying philosophical aims are profound... We stand on the brink of a new era of self-discovery.'

Why is a forgery worth so much less than an original work of art?What's so funny about someone slipping on a banana peel? Why, as Freud once asked, is a man willing to kiss a woman passionately, but not use her toothbrush? And how many times should you baptize a two-headed twin? Descartes' Baby answers such questions, questions we may have never thought to ask about such uniquely human traits as art, humour, faith, disgust, and morality. 
 
In this thought-provoking and fascinating account of human nature, psychologist Paul Bloom contends that we all see the world in terms of bodies and souls. Even babies have a rich understanding of both the physical and social worlds. They expect objects to obey principles of physics, and they're startled when things disappear or defy gravity. They can read the emotions of adults and respond with their own feelings of anger, sympathy and joy. 
 
This perspective remains with us throughout our lives. Using his own researches and new ideas from philosophy, evolutionary biology, aesthetics, theology, and neuroscience, Bloom shows how this way to making sense of reality can explain what makes us human. The myriad ways that our childhood views of the world undergo development throughout our lives and profoundly influences our thoughts, feelings, and actions is the subject of this richly rewarding book.

Paul Bloom

A Brief Tour of Everything We Know

Are you a human? Do you have a mind? Then this book is for you. 
 
Nothing is more familiar and yet less understood than the human mind. It defines the experience of being human, and yet its workings contain some of the deepest mysteries ever encountered. Written by one of the world's greatest teachers of psychology, The Human Mind provides a masterful and riveting guide to all that we have learned since modern science began probing those mysteries. It shines new light on all that you take most for granted: everything you think and feel, everything you say and do, everything that makes you you.

Paul Bloom

The Human Mind

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