The Laws of Human Nature

Robert Greene is an American writer known for writing strategy and self-improvement nonfiction books. Born in 1959, he grew up in a Jewish family in Los Angeles and briefly attended the University of California, Berkeley before finishing his education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Classical Studies. Greene worked in Hollywood film writing, magazine editing, and construction before he met book packager Joost Elffers in 1995 while working in Italy and pitched his first book to him. 

Greene’s first book, The 48 Laws of Power, was published in 1998, followed by The Art of Seduction (2001), The 33 Strategies of War (2006), The 50th Law (2009), which he co-wrote with American rapper 50 Cent, Mastery (2012), The Laws of Nature (2018), and The Daily Laws (2021). Greene has also done presentations on Talks at Google for his books Mastery and The Laws of Human Nature in 2013 and 2018, respectively, and a presentation at TED called “The key to transforming yourself.” His books have been featured by multiple media sources, including The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Forbes, The New Yorker, and Newsweek. He lives with his partner, filmmaker Anna Biller, in Los Angeles.

Robert Greene’s books, including The Laws of Human Nature, center on self-improvement. However, Greene’s self-help books are distinctive within the genre for their in-depth focus on psychology, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, and history. The Laws of Human Nature focuses on strategy and problem-solving, laying the groundwork for the reader to adopt the strategies provided and use them in their personal and professional lives. In the Introduction, he states: 

Think of the book in the following way: you are about to become an apprentice in human nature. You will be developing some skills—how to observe and measure the character of your fellow humans and see into your own depths. You will work on bringing out your higher self. And through practice you will emerge a master of the art, able to thwart the worst that other people can throw at you and to mold yourself into a more rational, self-aware, and productive individual (11).

The Laws of Human Nature and many of Greene’s other books include historical anecdotes that he analyzes using psychological and sociological lenses. In this book, he uses key figures to create a “brutally realistic appraisal of our species, dissecting who we are so we can operate with more awareness” (5). This helps establish human nature as a universal presence throughout all of history.