I Feel You: The Surprising Power of Extreme Empathy (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780544558168)

A cogent, gorgeous examination of empathy, illuminating the myths, the science, and the power behind this transformative emotion

Empathy has become a gaping fault line in American culture. Pioneering programs aim to infuse our legal and educational systems with more empathic thinking, even as pundits argue over whether we should bother empathizing with our political opposites at all. Meanwhile, we are inundated with the buzzily termed "empathic marketing"--which may very well be a contradiction in terms.

In I Feel You, Cris Beam carves through the noise with a revelatory exploration of how we perform empathy, how it is learned, what it can do--indeed, what empathy is in the first place. She takes us to the labs where the neural networks of compassion are being mapped, and the classrooms where children are being trained to see others' views. Beam visits courtrooms and prisons, asking how empathy might transform our justice system. She travels to places wracked by oppression and genocide, where reconciliation seems impossible, to report on efforts to heal society's deepest wounds through human connection. And finally, she turns to how we, as individuals, can foster compassion for ourselves.

Brimming with the sensitive and nuanced storytelling that has made Beam one of our most respected journalists, I Feel You is an eye-opening affirmation of empathy's potential.

Author: Cris Beam
ISBN-10: 0544558162
ISBN-13: 9780544558168
Publisher: HarperOne
Language: English
Published: 03/20/2018
Pages: 272
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2018
Booklist 02/01/2018 pg. 4
Library Journal 03/01/2018 pg. 95