Review: The Road to Character

The Road to Character by David Brooks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is like no other book I have read. It will make you stop. Stop and reflect. This is not a self-help book. It is a book of Truth – not the modern, moldable or expendable kind of truth, but hard Truth.

In this book, The Road to Character, Truth makes an appearance in every story, in every soul, in every chapter – and within the first few pages, this Truth will make an appearance in your mind and in your life, whether you welcome it or not.

Mr. Brooks had a revelation, transparent and uncomplicated, about the way Americans used to be, several decades ago. We were once modest, focused on the same worthy goals, eager to sacrifice. Unable to shake this sense that (not so very long ago) humanity was once a profoundly quieter, humbler, and infinitely more polite breed, he began to study. He researched, he thought, and, then, he wrote this book.

In describing this fundamental shift, he does not shove the blame onto technology and the age of the selfie, although it has unquestionably contributed to the vapid and the vacuous. Brooks goes far beyond this obvious problem.

To illustrate the morality shift he identifies early in the book, he uses short biographies of people who accomplished things, really big things, while at the same time confronting their own flaws, weaknesses, and blunders. These biographies are as captivating as they are uncommon. He focuses on people who (in their time) were not super-famous, but who did good things – very good things - in the course of confronting their own pride, defects, and vices. They were humble; they were effective.

His central point is that happiness and character arise when we are struggling against our own natures, when we keep digging into ourselves to be better, to do better. He points out again and again that people who radiate moral joy are people who are inclined to be useful but who don’t need to prove anything to the world. They don’t Tweet, Instagram, email or Facebook their acts of ordinary sacrificial service because they possess a modest spirit; it does not occur to them to try to impress anyone. They do not boast, and they do not make statements of dogged certainty, because they have shed that kind of arrogance. The terribly hard work of defeating one’s own weaknesses has a quieting effect on the self, Brooks says. I paused on this truth for a long time.

We recognize these people of depth and character. They are so distinctive because they have successfully muted the sound of their own egos. They have solved some of life’s essential problems and this has deepened their very souls. They know it is hard. They have learned what is most important and they will never shout at you about what is right or what is wrong.

This is the best book I’ve ever read on how not to be a loser – how not to reach a certain age only to discover that your days were filled with all the wrong stuff.

It made a big impression on me. I think it will for a very long time.


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