Author: Dexter Dias
Neighbours,
One of the reasons I enjoy reading is to make sense of the world around me, of myself and others. I picked up this book not knowing exactly what to expect (hurried book shopping) and from reading the first few pages I knew it was a book I was willing to pay attention to.
The biggest feature of the book that made it worth my time is the fact that Dexter Dias based all this work on research, and where he doesn’t have the answers he says so. The ten types of human in the book explain our behaviour and what our mental structures have to do with it.
Each type has a name and under each one he strives to figure out why that type is so and if there is any evolutionary explanation to that type. He explores our genetic inheritance and social learning, and how they contribute to our behaviour.
In the first type he explores what (if we do) we owe to those around us. Our ability to empathise, what it costs us and how our brains have systems that help us with this ‘cost’. Another chapter looks at ostracism, how it works and the effect it has on us. Think about how you feel when unfollowed or not followed back on social media, or when you were not picked for a game when you were kid, or not being included in certain gatherings. How do we cope and respond to being ostracised and how do we repair that pain of invisibility?
Dias asks and searches for answers about us and aggression. Are we naturally aggressive or is it an adaptation? One of my favourite chapters (not easy to choose one) was the one on nurturing, where I learned so much about parenting and/or nurturing. There’s a lot of valuable information here on childhood experiences and how they affect, say, our future nurturing, whether parental love is conditional or conditioned, and how nurturing and caregiving impact the behaviour of children and the structure of their brains.
This book is mind-blowing, it is page after page of enlightening information. Dias travels to different countries and meets a variety of people who are these types and their stories are heart-breaking as well as inspiring. Not only does the book ask and attempt to answer these questions about humanity, but it also stirs something in you to ask questions, always.
The Ten Types of Human is necessary to help us engage with each other in a different way, with understanding and an open-mind to how we are and why we do the things we do. It can help you clear some things about yourself and figure out certain things that you’ve probably not been able to deal with within yourself. It’s absolutely great for parenting, in understanding your children and dealing with parenting or caregiving, as well as understand our parents and some of their decisions.
It is a huge book but I promise you, every page is worth it.
Enjoy, Neighbour!
The Book Neighbourhood 