Virtual Author Talk: David Brooks

To register for this virtual author talk, please click here.

The Creative and Compassionate Art of Seeing Others Deeply with David Brooks
Leading Cultural and Political Commentator and Bestselling Author of The Road to Character
Tuesday, January 13th 2026 at 2:00 PM EST

Join us for an online discussion with prominent cultural writer and bestselling author David Brooks on his book, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply, in which he helps us pose essential questions: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them? What kind of conversations should you have? What parts of a person’s story should you pay attention to?

Driven by his trademark sense of curiosity and determination to grow as a person, Brooks draws from the fields of psychology and neuroscience and the worlds of theater, philosophy, history, and education to present a welcoming, hopeful, integrated approach to human connection. How to Know a Person helps readers become more understanding and considerate toward others, and to find the joy that comes from being seen. Along the way it offers a possible remedy for a society that is riven by fragmentation, hostility, and misperception.

The act of seeing another person, Brooks argues, is profoundly creative: How can we look somebody in the eye and see something large in them and, in turn, see something larger in ourselves? How to Know a Person is for anyone searching for connection, and yearning to be understood.

Register now to take part in a riveting and timeless conversation on how to connect with people from all walks of life, and why doing so is paramount to our individual and communal growth.

About the Author: David Brooks is one of the nation’s leading writers and commentators. He is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times, a writer for The Atlantic, and appears regularly on PBS Newshour. He is the bestselling author of The Second Mountain, The Road to Character, The Social Animal, Bobos in Paradise, and On Paradise Drive.

The views expressed by presenters are their own and their appearance in a program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by East Brunswick Public Library.