Pass the Bananas

By Cathleen Medwick
The Age of Empathy by Frans de Waal
The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society
By Frans de Waal
304 pages; Harmony

The lessons of the economic meltdown, Hurricane Katrina, and other disasters may not be what you think: Biologically, humans are not selfish animals. For that matter, neither are animals, writes the engaging Frans de Waal, a psychology professor with proof positive that, like other creatures who hang out in herds, we've evolved to be empathetic. We don't just hear a scream, it chills us to the bone; when we see a smile, we answer with one of our own. The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society offers advice to cutthroat so-called realists: Listen to your inner ape.

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From the September 2009 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine