We all encounter people who can ruin our lives. These can be colleagues, bosses, or even false friends who destroy our self-confidence. Sometimes we don’t understand our own behavior either — for example, we can throw all our efforts into a sure-fire project or passionately pursue a person who is completely unworthy of love. Analyzing our behavior, we don’t even understand how we could have acted so unreasonably, and we use expressions like: “Something came over me,” “I was out of my mind.”

“In such situations, we catch ourselves willy-nilly integrating into self-destructive patterns of behavior that seem to be completely independent of us. It’s as if a dangerous stranger, a little devil, has settled inside us, acting against our will and pushing us to inappropriate actions. And this inner stranger is an uncontrollable creature, or at least much less controllable than it seems when we mentally evaluate our own personality.”

But the thing is that we are very much “in ourselves” when we act to the detriment of others. The irrational principle can prompt us to do things that we do not expect from ourselves. We do not expect such behavior from others either — manipulators, narcissists, tyrants, and simply toxic people. When we encounter them, we get confused and give in. Simply because we do not know how our and other people’s “I” works.

Robert Greene is a publicist and the author of the bestseller “The 48 Laws of Power.” Analyzing the research of psychotherapists, biographies of historical figures, and his own observations, he deduces 18 universal laws that determine human behavior. The works of Carl Gustav Jung, Paul Ekman, Arthur Schopenhauer, Joseph LeDoux, Frans de Waal, and other scientists and famous thinkers are taken as a basis. Each chapter describes the forces that govern human nature: for example, narcissism, envy, aggression, inconstancy. According to Greene, most people do not even realize the deep action of these forces that literally pull us in different directions. But if we understand where they come from and how they work, we will be able to track destructive patterns of behavior - our own or others. Then we will understand how to get rid of them, and we will be able to turn these laws to our advantage.

“The main goal of this book is to immerse you in the study of all aspects of human behavior, to highlight its root causes. If you agree to be guided by it, the book will radically change the way you view others and the approach to communicating with them. In addition, it will radically change your idea of ​​​​yourself.”

Robert Greene supports the theory with examples from world history - you will understand how actors use the law of craving for possession, or learn to use the shadow side of your personality for good, as Steve Jobs did. “The Laws of Human Nature” is an attempt to explain ourselves as fully as possible, a book that can be a guide in any life situation.

Why read
Learn to observe people and accurately assess their characters.
Free yourself from emotional dramas that take up your time and energy.
Identify and defeat toxic people in your environment.
Learn techniques that will help you motivate and influence people.
Track irrational impulses in yourself and change your behavior patterns.
Develop empathy and establish deep connections with the people around you.
Change your perception of your own capabilities and calling.
Remove obstacles and fully realize your potential.
Awards and ratings
Winner of the International Business Book Award.

Features
18 chapters - 18 laws of human nature: from narcissism to death denial.
Stories from the lives of famous people: from Pericles to Joseph Stalin, from Elizabeth I to Michael Jackson, from Mary Shelley to Rockefeller.
Psychology of human behavior and its hidden mechanisms.