Social Intelligence
The last few months I’ve been reading The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. Today, I’m reading a book called Social Intelligence, The New Science of Human Relationships by Daniel Goleman.
This book is from the author who wrote about emotional intelligence, but the angle that interests me is how our daily encounters on the web and in real-life affects the cells in our bodies down to the level of our genes and then back up to our emotional level. Daniel’s basic discovery is that we humans are designed for sociability and that we are constantly engaged in a neural dance to connect ourselves brain-to-brain with others around us.
This book was acquired thanks to a small gift from Yanik Silver… who sent me an Amazon gift certificate for being a guest in his 6 hour teleseminar last week (thanks Yanik!).
I wonder if this book will explain why social networking is so powerful and that I’ll be able to apply some of the lessons here with our websites.
Those who know me, know that this book is outside of my comfort zone and that’s exactly why I wanted to read it.
If you’ve read Social Intelligence, I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on the book?
Okay, Chris, you’ve convinced me, i’m ordering it today! I am a big fan of Goleman and have his other books, but like you, I wonder about being in the ‘real world’ so little these days. I enjoy being behind the computer and with my online connections too much. I also just bought Tim Rath’s Vital Friends which also addresses the necessity for face-to-face contacts. All good stuff.
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