The Moral Molecule: How Trust Works in Bloomington, MN

"Philosophy, economics, and biology have rarely been so entertaining."—Matt Ridley, author of
Genome
Paul J. Zak's proclivity for taking blood samples has earned him a nickname as the "vampire economist." But his sanguinary habit is backed by his scientifi­c quest: What if there was a master switch for human behavior? On, and people are loving and generous. Off, and they revert to violence and greed. By studying thousands of blood samples, Zak has pinpointed just such a switch: a brain chemical called oxytocin. Sprinting around the globe and into the human brain, ­
The Moral Molecule
is a dazzling narrative as erudite and entertaining as bestsellers like
Flow
,
Drive
, and
Why We Love
.