The Laws of Human Nature
By Robert Greene
I am currently reading ‘The Laws of Human Nature’ for the THIRD TIME in 2 months!!
It is probably the most readable personal development book I have ever read which is really saying something, as those of you who have been following my book reviews since 2010 will know that I have read hundreds of personal development and business growth books over the years.
The Laws of Human Nature is the latest in a string of 6 International bestselling books by the `author Robert Greene whose previous bestsellers are The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law, Mastery, and The Laws of Human Nature.
I previously reviewed his best seller ‘The 50th Law’ back in August 2020, which you can read here
It is a big book, with a planet’s worth of great content 🙂 . Robert Greene is without question one of the most influential modern-day philosophers of our time. He has a gift of uncovering life changing and life defining pearls of wisdom from actual stories of real characters from history. The topics he covers are many of the most significant in the human behaviour / personal growth arena, the key ones covered in this book include:
- Master Your Emotional Self
- Self-love and Empathy
- Masks and roleplaying
- Character and Compulsive behaviour
- How Desire works
- Elevate your perspective
- Defensiveness
- Attitude and self-sabotage
- Your Dark Side
- Ego and Envy
- Know your limits
- Masculine and Feminine balance
- Developing a Higher Sense of Purpose
- Group Conformity
- Establishing Authority
- Seeing the Hidden Aggression
- Generational Patterns
- A Philosophy of Life Through Death
In line with his writing style in ‘The 48 Laws of Power’ Greene presents “18 Laws of Human Nature”. In this book there are 18 Chapters in the book, each explaining one of the following laws:
- The Law of Irrationality
- The Law of Narcissism
- The Law of Role Playing
- The Law of Compulsive Behaviour
- The Law of Covetousness
- The Law of Short-sightedness
- The Law of Defensiveness
- The Law of Self Sabotage
- The Law of Repression
- The Law of Envy
- The Law of Grandiosity
- The Law of Gender Rigidity
- The Law of Aimlessness
- The Law of Conformity
- The Law of Fickleness
- The Law of Agression
- The Law of Generational Myopia
- The Law of Death Denial
So why is this book so readable?
In a nutshell what makes this book so readable is that the author has selected many key elements of human nature and used fascinating true stories of great historical figures to explain these key elements. The stories are compelling even if you are already familiar with the characters who include the following people:
Julius Caesar, Caterina Sforza, Queen Elizabeth the First, Abraham Lincoln, Howard Hughes, Martin Luther King, Coco Channel, John D Rockefeller, Richard Nixon, Michael Eisner.
Because of his extensive research Greene reveals element of these fascinating stories that are not commonly known, which makes the stories even more interesting. Then Greene uses these stories to illustrate life defining elements of human nature that are often unrecognised or over-looked, then Greene triggers you to think ‘How is this pearl of wisdom relevant to me?’ Some answers require a lot of self-reflection, and when your answers are honest, some of them are not particularly comfortable, uncomfortable questions are the foundation of personal growth.
One great example is the story of Michael Eisner where Greene uses the story of Eisner’s career to illustrate “The Law of Grandiosity”!
Eisner became CEO of Disney in 1984, when commercially Disney was in very poor shape. Initially Eisner assisted by Frank Wells brought great success to Disney, however his success went to his head. Eisner was a talented man, but overlooked the good fortune he had and most of all failed to credit other people around him like Frank Wells and Jeffrey Katzenberg, after bringing so much success to Disney Eisner began to alienate the key people that had helped him. Out of apparent jealousy Eisner even ended up sacking Jeffrey Katzenberg who had produced some of the most successful films in Disney’s history, who them went on to even greater success including forming DreamWorks Films Studios with David Geffen and Steven Spielberg.
In 2005 Eisner was forced to resign from Disney after a series of disastrous ventures that he had initiated that generated massive losses for Disney.
Eisner did not realise ‘his own limitations’. He also had an issue with giving credit to others and jealousy, the author Greene brilliantly tells the story of Eisner explaining how his inability to recognise and deal with these personal flaws was what led to his downward career path.
This story of Michael Eisner got me to reflect on my own triumphs in life and in business and realise that I may have credited myself more for some achievements, without fully acknowledging the timing and the help of others which also played crucial roles.
Out of the many wonderfully intriguing stories in the book, my favourite is about one of the lesser-known historical characters called Caterina Sforza who was an Italian noblewoman who lived from 1463 to 1509 and was ‘the Countess of Forlì’ and ‘Lady of Imola’. Greene uses her story to illustrate someone who overcame the ‘The Law of Gender Rigidity’ Caterina Sforza achieved a rare dynamic balance between male and female energy. Caterina Sforza greatly admired her father who was a fearless military man and whilst she was very feminine in appearance, she rose to dominate a male dominated world with a baby in one hand and a sword in the other.
What Greene does is use these intriguing stories from history to explain key elements of human nature such that you recognise both empowering and disempowering behaviours in your own life and you begin to get a deeper understanding of what is behind such behaviours.
Because there are so many lessons to learn from so many stories in this book, it is the sort of book you can read one small chunk at a time and reflect on what you learn and make the corresponding changes to your life.
In terms of recommending this book, I can say no more than ‘currently it is definitely in my top 10 books of all time!’.