So, I guess its time I put up my review on “Social Intelligence.”
I got this audio book from the wonderful people at AD for free about a YEAR ago. xD Sorry its taken so long guys. I want to say that I was a good and popped it in and finished it within a day, but I slacked and didn’t get around for about 2 months. I’ve listened to it several times now, but at first it was really hard to get through. Anyhow here goes.
The beginning is god awful to listen to. Its the reason why I would start listening and stop. It tells you basic things that seem very common sense and I felt retarded listening to it. After you can get through that and actually listen, it gets much better. I’m going to make this as short and sweet as possible. This was a great book. Even though it goes through a lot of “no shit” “duh” moments, you don’t realize exactly what he’s saying till that “duh” moment happens and it just turns on a light. The book doesn’t just explain things socially in the social aspect. So you’re not exactly exploring sociology going from the outside INTO the world of sociology. You’re more like already IN the world of sociology and he’s going about explaining sociology as he’s moving out of the realm of sociology into other realms like social psychology, psychology and all that other stuff. I don’t know shit about NLP, but I imagine from the limited information I hear about it, that this would be a nice add on to it. The author teaches you things you already knew, but gives you more insight into it. Those “duh” instances are usually going to be obvious, but there are also other instances where it has more meaning and insight to it. It took me a LONG time to come up with this analogy, but its the best one I can come up with. 2 seasons ago, I went to a Chargers vs Indy game. It was sick. Now, if you asked me who won, I would say “The Chargers won.” Now deep down, it was more like “Indy lost the game” (their kicker, Vinatieri who has like a 98% successful kick rate from under 30 yards missed like a 26 yard kick and that gave the chargers the break for the win). Even though those two statements mean the same thing, they give you different information. So the author is saying things differently that may seem obvious, but until you actually see/experience some of it, you might not appreciate it like I did.
Actually, the whole “social” thing is kinda misleading. Cause these days we’re so specific and technical that we fail to realize that sociology isn’t limited to certain things but is really all encompassing. This looks at things in more of an interaction view so its more of an insightful observation of human interactions and the factors and consequences from them.
