{"product_id":"the-mattering-instinct-how-our-deepest-longing-drives-us-and-divides-us-9781324096856","title":"The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us","description":"MacArthur Fellow and National Humanities Medalist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of \u003cem\u003ePlato at the Googleplex\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Mind-Body Problem\u003c\/em\u003e, 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 \u003cem\u003ematter\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Goldstein brings this profound idea to life through unforgettable stories of famous and not-so-famous people pursuing their unique mattering projects: the ragtime genius Scott Joplin, whose dedication to his ignored masterpiece, \u003cem\u003eTreemonisha\u003c\/em\u003e, ended in tragedy; the pioneering psychologist William James, who rose above the depression of his young adulthood to become perhaps the first great theorist of mattering; an impoverished Chinese woman who rescued abandoned newborns from the trash; and a neo-Nazi skinhead who as a young man dealt racial violence to feel he mattered but ultimately renounced that hateful past after realizing that mattering isn't a zero-sum game. 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Deeply revealing and insightful, and decades in the making, \u003cem\u003eThe Mattering Instinct\u003c\/em\u003e is a must read 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Rebecca Newberger Goldstein\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Liveright Publishing Corporation\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/13\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.35lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 6.30w x 1.30d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781324096856\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/15\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGoldstein, Rebecca Newberger:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eRebecca Newberger Goldstein\u003c\/strong\u003e is an award-winning philosopher, writer, and public intellectual. She is the author of ten books of acclaimed fiction and non-fiction, including \u003cem\u003e36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eBetraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity\u003c\/em\u003e. She holds a Ph.D. 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.","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Rebecca Newberger Goldstein \/ Hardcover \/ English","offer_id":47579932393629,"sku":"9781324096856","price":47.34,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_25d41378-782c-4b29-b27b-153dc54147d1.jpg?v=1768899355","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/the-mattering-instinct-how-our-deepest-longing-drives-us-and-divides-us-9781324096856","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}