• Live Singapore Story on Aug 26

• The Big Read Meet celebrates SG50 this month with a special session with the editors, co- authors and stars of the official SG50 book, Living The Singapore Story. The book has been on The Straits Times' non-fiction bestseller list since its launch on May 15 .

  Join senior writer Cheong Suk-Wai and her colleagues Han Fook Kwang, Angelina Choy, Jennani Durai and co- author Cassandra Chew, with some of their respective interviewees, as they discuss the strength of character of Singaporeans in turning a backwater into a city-state that is the envy of the world.

  Meet them on Aug 26 from 6.30pm in the Possibility Room at Level 5, National Library Board headquarters in 100 Victoria Street.

  To make sure you have a seat, sign up for the Meet at any e-Kiosk at NLB branches, or go to www.nlb.gov/go library, find the listing for The Big Read Meet and follow the steps there.

He has, for example, drawn up a Moral Bucket List for people to tick off, just as they would a list of their coveted holiday destinations (the list includes shifting towards humility, confrontation of one's weakness and and experiencing an energising love). And every year since 2004, he has given out his self-styled Sidney Awards, to the most ethical reporters in political and cultural journalism.

Those who yawn at his pet subjects might still have heard of his most notable book, Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class And How They Got There (2000).

True to form, Brooks starts the book with a confession that, as a person, he tends to be shallow and vague about wanting to do good. But it is his other confession, at the back of the book, which startles: the book he had actually wanted to write was about how to make decisions. It was his book editor Anne Snyder who convinced him that he would do his readers a better service by finding practical ways to enrich everyone's inner life.

No matter. His focused, eloquent exploration of how humankind went from abject humility to what he calls the "broadcasting personality" of today is quite an education. For example, here he is on the difference between discipline and love: "Self-control is like a muscle. If you are called upon to exercise self- control often in the course of a day, you get tired and you don't have enough strength to exercise as much self-control in the evening.

"But love is the opposite. The more you love, the more you can love… Love expands with use."

The central plank of his argument is that pride swells people so, they live only for themselves, take more than what they need and crowd out all but those who serve their interests. All of these, as anyone can recognise, leads to what Brooks calls the Big Me culture.

Humankind, however, began as Little Me. He suggests that in the old days, most people died young. So life was seen as fragile and precious, and so it was safer to keep one's head down, keep the peace and keep going as long as one could.

But today, with vaulting technology, more medicines and easier living, Big Me stalks the landscape, ever willing to take on more risk, show off and enjoy life as much as possible. It was Big Me thinking that created the wondrous Age of Knowledge. But the backlash to that is a cool, uncaring and more morally ambiguous world.

Then again, he muses, Big Me has been in every age; it is just more pronounced in the Me-Me-Me world of the millennials. A prime example of Big Me in the past was St Augustine, who had been a hedonist to the hilt, but became an ascetic after finding that nothing he enjoyed or achieved made him happy. Navel-gazing made him so miserable that he would steal pears from a neighbour for the thrill of it.

Brooks' other tales of heroes are just as absorbing. For instance, who knew that the great English diarist Samuel Johnson became such a keen observer of street life because, ugly and scarred, nobody would give him a glance? So, relegated to the fringe, he gave the world some of the best insight on human nature and the times in which he lived.

There is also Frances Perkins, an American society lady of the mid-20th century who went into public service to improve the lot of workers after she watched scores of seamstresses jump to their death when their sweatshop caught fire and they could not run down the stairs fast enough.

Then there is American president Dwight Eisenhower.

A most decent man, he was belittled and verbally abused day in and day out by his superior, General Douglas MacArthur. But he repressed his rage, letting fly only in his journal thus: "He'd like to occupy a throne room surrounded by experts in flattery; while in a dungeon below, unknown to the world, would be a bunch of slaves doing his work … He's a fool, but worse, he is a puking baby." Outwardly, he did his best for his boss. That, says Brooks, is character.

So how can one build moral muscle? He suggests four ways:

• Be a stumbler: Accept, and forgive, yourself for your mistakes. No one can be at his best all day, every day. But while you may stumble, you must also confront and tussle with the better and worse parts of your nature and choose what is right, instead of what is pretty, safe or easy. "Self-respect is produced by inner triumphs, not external ones," he stresses;
• Live moderately: This does not mean having less of what you like. Rather, he says, moderating your life is about being able to adapt quickly to sudden changes in circumstances, and so forever balancing and keeping things in proportion. That is because there are no permanent solutions to tensions, only the best responses to them at a particular moment;
• Get the support of trusted people: Change is hard and trying to do it alone is nigh impossible. So reach out to those who you know have your best interests at heart and get them to help you up when you fall; and
• Understand that everyone is naturally perverse in some way: Once a person understands this, he is less likely to judge others starkly or quickly, and perhaps will grow not to judge others at all.

While he is a skilful storyteller, he sometimes expects readers to be able to glean his argument from his anecdotes. That does not always work. For example, he does not address a most important and delicate question, that is: How can one balance between self-reliance and self-centredness? There is a very thin line between the two, but Brooks does not go near it.

He also refers mostly to Western ideas and sometimes overthinks his subject. But stay with him; he is among the few who connect the dots ably between the clarion call to be good and the desultory hum of daily life.

Happy 50th National Day.

FIVE QUESTIONS THIS BOOK ANSWERS

1 What must you ask yourself when you are just starting out in life?

2 What must you ask yourself when you are mid-way through life?

3 Why is joy necessarily fleeting?

4 Why are struggle and self- contradiction so crucial to building character?

5 How and why have most people come to laud those who are shallow and self-centred?