We are losing the skills of cooperation needed to make a complex society work. Author Richard Sennett is concerned that modern society is actively de-skilling people in practicing cooperation. “People are losing the skills to deal with intractable difficulties as material inequality isolates them, short term labor makes their social contracts more superficial and activates anxiety about the other.” Yet the simple act of collaboration and cooperation  provides a powerful antidote. “Cooperation oils the machinery of getting things done and sharing with others can make up for what we may individually lack. Cooperation is embedded in our genes but cannot remain stuck in routine behavior, it needs to be deepened and developed.” He’s got some great ideas about how to do so.  Book Review: Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation