SKU: 57696482947

Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil

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Just Babies: The Origins of Good and EvilA leading cognitive scientist argues that a deep sense of good and evil is bred in the bone. From John Locke to Sigmund Freud, philosophers and psychologists have long believed that we begin life as blank moral slates. Many of us take for granted that babies are born selfish and that it is the role of society and especially parents to transform them from little sociopaths into civilized beings. In Just Babies, Paul Bloom argues that humans are in fact

A leading cognitive scientist argues that a deep sense of good and evil is bred in the bone.

From John Locke to Sigmund Freud, philosophers and psychologists have long believed that we begin life as blank moral slates. Many of us take for granted that babies are born selfish and that it is the role of society--and especially parents--to transform them from little sociopaths into civilized beings. In Just Babies, Paul Bloom argues that humans are in fact hardwired with a sense of morality. Drawing on groundbreaking research at Yale, Bloom demonstrates that, even before they can speak or walk, babies judge the goodness and badness of others' actions; feel empathy and compassion; act to soothe those in distress; and have a rudimentary sense of justice.

Still, this innate morality is limited, sometimes tragically. We are naturally hostile to strangers, prone to parochialism and bigotry. Bringing together insights from psychology, behavioral economics, evolutionary biology, and philosophy, Bloom explores how we have come to surpass these limitations. Along the way, he examines the morality of chimpanzees, violent psychopaths, religious extremists, and Ivy League professors, and explores our often puzzling moral feelings about sex, politics, religion, and race.

In his analysis of the morality of children and adults, Bloom rejects the fashionable view that our moral decisions are driven mainly by gut feelings and unconscious biases. Just as reason has driven our great scientific discoveries, he argues, it is reason and deliberation that makes possible our moral discoveries, such as the wrongness of slavery. Ultimately, it is through our imagination, our compassion, and our uniquely human capacity for rational thought that we can transcend the primitive sense of morality we were born with, becoming more than just babies.

Paul Bloom has a gift for bringing abstract ideas to life, moving seamlessly from Darwin, Herodotus, and Adam Smith to The Princess Bride, Hannibal Lecter, and Louis C.K. Vivid, witty, and intellectually probing, Just Babies offers a radical new perspective on our moral lives.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Broadway Books
Published: 11/11/2014
ISBN: 9780307886859
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.49lbs
Size: 8.23h x 5.22w x 0.63d

Review Citations: New York Times Book Review 12/28/2014 pg. 24
New York Review of Books 02/25/2016 pg. 38
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SKU: 57696482947

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4.3 ★★★★★
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Rachel
Alexandria, US
★★★★★ 4
Mostly easy recipes that taste great!
Format: Spiral-bound
This cookbook has some easy recipes and some that are a bit more involved. She has video links tho to help you along if you need it. I’ve probably made about 1/2 of the recipes in here(not the desserts) and most have been great. The miso chicken, the fried chicken, the mollzballs, the cauliflower salad, and many more were big hits with my family. Got the spiral bound which is really nice to have!
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Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2025
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Kelly
West Palm Beach, US
★★★★★ 5
One of the greatest cookbooks I’ve ever bought
Format: Hardcover
I love cookbooks—like really really love them. I have a collection. I just finished reading this through on the night I received it via preorder—I tracked it all day because I was so excited. I just intuitively felt like after looking at the images and preview that there was really something special about this one. Being a cookbook lover, you can just smell it. This one seemed dense with intention and value, and so colorful, accessible and of-the-moment. And boy was I right!! While there literally hasn’t been enough time to cook anything from this yet (it arrived on my door step three hours ago), I can already tell you that this thing has more soul and voice than 99% of the cookbooks out there. She had me LAUGHING out loud like 12 times no exaggeration (Maldon in the purse?! F yeah ur my girl!), misty eyed (last meal convo), IMPRESSED (QR code for real time audio instructions w classical music?! and vids?! #INNOVATION), thrilled at the ingenuity (salt scoville unit rating omfg), and just overall really knocked back by the joy of seeing someone really live their dreams and GIVE IT to the world. It is so palpable that Molly is living her dreams, and you can tell she works for it. Her writing seems more like her true or embodied self than her spoken words in old YouTube vids I recall. This book is aspirational from a lifestyle perspective but it has nothing to do with the very cool graphic design, great photography and food styling (all wonderful) or her ultra hip house or LA social life or whatever… which is all fun to peek in on, but—it’s because this is a person who has found her calling and is LIVING IT 👏👏 … COMMITTING… and generously sharing herself in the most authentic way with us. It’s just so HER, so specific, which is what we wanna see in ARTISTS. And while I’ve followed Molly with appreciation for years (I never got around to buying her first book but live for her gochujang chx and other Bon Appetit recipes), I’m realizing I have either been sleeping on the true depths of her talent OR she has recently bloomed into just like, her fullest self and I am so so happy for her. I came for the ingredient lists organized by grocery store layout (F-ING FINALLY FINALLY THANK YOU THANK YOU) and the fun vintage typography/nostalgia and umami bombs and gorgeous meatballs, but the inspiration that this book vibrates with (GO FOR IT! Life the life you are meant to live!) will stay with me for quite some time. As a former cooking instructor I know the critical importance of building confidence in order to be a good cook but she just took that concept and blew it to its heights/made it REAL. Can’t wait to make cauliflower salad w vegan ranch, leek za, coconut cornbread, fish n shingled potatoes and orange creamsicle poppy cake. THANK YOU MOLLY!
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Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2023
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Verified Purchase
Colleen Rollins
Alexandria, US
★★★★★ 5
Molly Snapped. AGAIN
Format: Hardcover
I’ve made a few recipes from this book already and dear god, they’re so good. The hot sauce-braised short ribs and chile-basted half chicken in particular were jaw-droppingly delicious!! One thing I keep seeing is that she reused recipes from her subscription The Club, so maybe don’t get this book if you already have that. I’m not a member of The Club, so these were all new and exciting for me. Another thing - this is not a dry, straightforward cookbook. It’s focuses on fun graphic design and has her signature lingo in it. Yes, the font is kooky, and I’m here for all of it. It’s not illegible, but know what you’re signing up for. And finally, this is not a health cookbook. She has never claimed it is, so I don’t know why some reviews are up in arms about the health aspect. It’s literally called More is More, guys. Some recipes are indulgent, and that’s okay! I try to eat somewhat healthy, and there’s still a lot in it that I could make without modifications. Basically, if you want a very fun, eye-catching cookbook with DELICIOUS recipes, this is for you!
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Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2023
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Verified Purchase
Claudio
Bozeman, US
★★★★★ 5
Amazing recipes, but a visually exhausting thing to read
Format: Hardcover
The recipes in this book are amazing. Reading through them and flipping back and forth through the pages you can tell Molly put a lot of time and attention into making powerful recipes packed with flavor, with all of them being incredibly approachable in actual technique. There are too many good things to call out with this collection of recipes. But existing as an easily digestible and referenced cookbook, it kind of sucks. The editing in this book is supposed to be *fun*. There are random font styles in every page and sometimes there are weird lines that become wavy. There are points in the book where there’s suddenly a cocktail recipe thrown into a chapter about salads or sandwiches. Great sounding cocktails, but ones you’ll need to scan the recipe list for since how would you be able to know which chapter it was thrown into? At the end of the day I feel like a cookbook should be an easy tool for someone to use in the kitchen when there’s already so much going on. The book is visually exhausting to read, but looks very very delicious to make from.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2023
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Verified Purchase
Liz K.
Boise, US
★★★★★ 3
Nice recipes, AWFUL font
Format: Hardcover, Format: Hardcover
I loved Cook This Book. Mine has a permanent crease on the Caesar salad page and the other recipes I have tried have all been winners, so I was excited to get Molly’s next book. My initial browse through the recipes has me excited to try them out, I just cannot understand the choice of this awful font. It is so difficult to read and make out the letters. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be for someone with visual or reading impairments. There is even a fully black page with dark blue font that is basically unreadable (the picture I included is very kind, in real life the contrast is extremely minimal). It’s such a huge distraction from what otherwise appears to be a nice collection.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2023

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