Darren M. Meade Reviews 'The Road to Character by David Brooks


I recently finished The Road to Character by David Brooks. Brooks is a great storyteller, and this book is basically filled with what one might call “portraits in character.”

The contrasts between Samuel Johnson and Michel de Montaigne vacillated between subtle and chasm-like. Both giants. The final days of Johnson’s life—as he plunges scissors into his own legs in an attempt to drain the edema and chastises his own doctor for not doing so deeply enough—my new hero! I want a life-sized Johnson bust in my office as a reminder of this man’s life.

The thesis of the book is, basically, that we have seen a shift in human nature from what Brooks calls the Adam II self (humble, inward-looking, “eulogy” self) to the Adam I self (ambitious, external, “resume” self). 
The case he makes is that this pendulum, which began its swing in the post-WWII era, has probably gone too far. I certainly came away feeling that way, and I am now left to contemplate what else I can do about it, personally.

~ Darren

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My name is Darren M. Meade. This is my story.

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