Would be nice to have a book that puts this into perspective.
Basically a good book that explains people, they way they think and why they do things.
I see all sorts of people everyday doing unusual things and wonder why.
Essentially i guess it would be a book on human behavior or behavior in society.
Anyone come across a good book like this?

A book on the Enneagram, is the book you seek.  

Enneagram books have helped me understand the personalities of my friends and family (and myself).  It helps you understand why people are who they are.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality

I found The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Johnathan Haidt very interesting. It explores similarities in moral psychology across multiple cultures and tries to come up with a model that explains why people have different views on similar problems. Haidt is a liberal (he admits he is biased right up front), but I feel like he gives conservatives a very fair shake (e.g., while trying to explain why conservatives give more to charity but oppose expansion of social programs).

ETA: it also explores morality in developmental psychology -- like, when babies become able to perceive things as "fair" or "unfair", "right" or "wrong" -- he describes a study in which babies preferred toys and puppets that were used to act out "fair" behavior, compared to toys that acted out "unfair" or mean behavior. It's a really neat book.

Awesome, these book are on audible.com



There are actually 4 different books. Any particular one or any of them.





Found it.

Thanks again.

Any book on child psychology will probably explain it, although the older the child psychology book the better.

If you're just looking for a synopsis here it is:  People will always behave to the least common denominator, that is like children.  The more professional, technical types are the worst because they also have way too much ego which leads them to believe that they are always right no matter what the subject is.

King Rat by James Clavell

In the vein of the Enneagram recommendation above, Please Understand Me or Please Understand Me II. These are the books that talk about the Myers Briggs personality types. The core concept behind it being that other people do "weird" things because they don't necessarily have the same goals that you do. (One type might value security and stability the most, another fun and freedom, another understanding and knowledge...)

Looked at from a different perspective... I found Influence by Robert Cialdini to be interesting. It talks about how people are persuaded to do things... even when those things don't make any sense. Not a perfect book, but interesting nonetheless.

And, of course, just about any psychology book ever.

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Currently 1/3 of the way through this book.

So, far it was been very interesting and a bit of an eye opener.

This; however, both Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky tended to greatly exaggerate personalities in their writing.  In a similar vein, I'd suggest Hemingway if OP is interested in fiction.

For non-fiction, I'd also suggest "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Fantastic book... At 500 pages it's a long one and leans heavily academic.

OP - Economics, not psychology, will answer all of your questions about human nature. Psychology stuff is for emotionally compromised women.

You can wet you appetite for answers with the Freakonomics series by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.

"no one understands you, and what to do about it" Heidi halvorson