Overview

MacArthur Fellow and National Humanities Medalist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex and The Mind-Body Problem, returns with a revelatory book about the primal drive that in our species alone has been transformed into one of our most persistent and universal motivations: the longing to matter. Drawing on biology, psychology, and philosophy, Goldstein argues that this need to matter--and the various ""mattering projects"" it inspires--is the source of our greatest progress and our deepest conflicts: the very crux of the human experience. Goldstein brings this profound idea to life through unforgettable stories of famous and not-so-famous people pursuing their unique mattering projects. These portraits illuminate how our instinct for significance shapes identity, relationships, culture, and conflict--and they point the way to a future where we all might see that there is, fundamentally, enough mattering to go around. Deeply revealing and insightful, The Mattering Instinct is a must-listen for those curious about why we seek to matter to ourselves and others--and how this insatiable longing that drives us apart may be the key to finally understanding each other.

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Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is an award-winning philosopher, writer, and public intellectual. She is the author of ten books of acclaimed fiction and nonfiction, including 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction and Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity. She holds a PhD in philosophy of science from Princeton University and has taught at Yale, Columbia, NYU, Dartmouth, and Harvard. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, her work has been supported by the MacArthur ""Genius"" grant and fellowships from the Guggenheim, Whiting Institute, Radcliffe Institute, and the National Science Foundation. In 2015, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Rebecca Kaser is a classically trained actor from Greenville, South Carolina, with a passion for storytelling and a voice that loves to bring characters-and ideas-to life. Over the last few years she's narrated several audiobooks and continues to grow in this amazing field where words become worlds. On stage, she's tackled iconic roles like Desdemona in Othello, and she is currently diving into the complexities of Goneril in King Lear. Whether she's narrating fiction or nonfiction, she brings that same theatrical depth and emotional range to every project. When she's not behind the mic, you'll find her acting in plays, directing a lower school drama club at her kids' school, getting in a good workout, or reading (or listening to) her next favorite book. She's also a wife and mom of two-life is full and busy, but never too busy for a great audiobook project!

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