David Brooks on his mission: To counter our nation's spiritual crisis

David Brooks is on a one-man mission aimed at no less than changing human behavior. For the last several years Brooks has been on two writing tracks: his New York Times column addresses politics and society, while his books (such as "The Road to Character," "The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life," and "The Social Animal") have been examinations of character, morality and personal architecture.

His latest book is "How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen" (to be published October 24 by Random House). And he's the first to admit it's partly about how to know himself.

He says he's not shy about copping to his latest being a self-help book: "I'm trying to help myself," he laughed. "So, it's selfish. I'm trying to help myself, but I hope it'll be helpful to others. And in my view, every book should be a self-help book. You should be able to learn something that'll improve who you are."