Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics

Everyone thinks they’re logical and sensible, but when you look out and see how many poorly informed numbskulls are supporting transparently manipulative politicians, it makes you wonder just how self-deceptive and misguided we are when it comes to politics and reading people in general. As it turns out, we are simply not designed to make smart choices politically, and there are several evolutionary biases that keep most of us from making good, informed decisions.

Political Animals takes us behind the science and sociology of how we deceive ourselves and how others deceive us when it comes politics. Whether we’re convinced we can read politicians simply because we see them on TV, weaponizing optimism to attack rational thought, or misinterpreting anger and volume for actual resolve, it’s staggering to consider how bad we are at this. Heck, it turns out we could learn something about our political system by studying chimps and crayfish!

Consider this: Nixon’s poll numbers didn’t drop until eleven months after Watergate. Does that make sense? No. But if you want to know how and why that happened, read Political Animals. You won’t regret it.