Praise for Elliot Aronson's
Not by Chance Alone: My Life as a Social Psychologist

"If they ever get around to awarding a Nobel Prize in social psychology, I believe Elliot Aronson will be its first recipient. His ideas are creative, his experiments are elegant and his findings are of great importance."
-Gardner Lindzey, Editor of The Handbook of Social Psychology from 1954-2010

"This is an autobiography with a difference. Not only is it a warm and graceful memoir of a gifted man who helped to shape the science of social life, but it is informed by insights from that very field. Elliot Aronson, more than any living person, knows that the stories we tell about ourselves are apt to be dubious and self-serving, and so his reflections on his own life are layered with reflections on how we reflect on our lives. The result is an immensely enjoyable and informative memoir."
-Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works

"Arguably Elliot Aronson is first and foremost a very gifted teacher. The clarity he brings to that enterprise is evident in his success as a distinguished researcher and as a writer (witness the enormous popularity of his engaging treatise on social psychology, The Social Animal). And it is well manifested in this fascinating life story of a professor's quest to improve the human condition by understanding the social forces that so powerfully influence our lives. For those interested in an inside look at the joys and frustrations of an intellectual life, this book is a wonderful read."
-Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr., Ph.D., Presidential Professor of Teaching Excellence, Professor of Psychology, Texas A&M University

"Not by Chance Alone describes the inspiring odyssey of one of the most eminent social psychologists of our times. Readers will admire the honest, witty, wise, and beautiful memoir of Aronson's rich life that is filled with brilliant scientific insights, powerful teaching, and humane compassion."
-Gordon H. Bower, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Stanford University

"Aronson's candid autobiography is an instructive and enjoyable read. In addition, the volume offers an informed perspective on the sweeping development of social psychology as a discipline over the past six decades."
-Thomas F. Pettigrew, Research Professor of Social Psychology, University of California-Santa Cruz

"Elliot Aronson is our modern day Horatio Alger as revealed in this charmingly inviting memoir of a childhood in rags to intellectual riches as one of psychology's premier contributors. This master storyteller weaves his personal narrative in and around the events and people that marked his life path that was destined for greatness, without help from the vicissitudes of chance."
-Phil Zimbardo, Past President, American Psychological Association., author of The Lucifer Effect

"Absolutely wonderful. Elliot has long shown that he can write engagingly for a wide audience, and in Not by Chance Alone he has outdone himself. Not only was I captivated by his truly inspirational life story, but I also learned so much about the people, theories, and experiments that helped define the field of social psychology."
-Elizabeth Loftus, Distinguished Professor, University of California-Irvine

"Elliot Aronson's done it again--revealed deep human insights from a deeply human story."
-Robert B. Cialdini, Author of Influence: Science and Practice

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