Principles of Psychology

“In the 19th century, psychology as a science was born when people started to use the methods of neurology and physiology to search for the physical basis of mental categories that came from mental philosophy. William James is sometimes considered the father of American psychology, primarily because he wrote extremely well, and he captured ideas that were in the zeitgeist at the time. He was just a really thoughtful, interesting thinker.” Read more...

The Best Books on Emotions

Lisa Feldman Barrett, Psychologist

“Out of all the books I own, this is my absolute treasure…. I read the entire thing from cover to cover, which took me a while. It is marvellous – fantastic. His thinking is so subtle. What I love about James is when we knows something for sure – some experiment or something – then he will tell you so; but when he doesn’t, he goes into these wonderful explorations never really coming to a conclusion” Read more...

The best books on Consciousness

Susan Blackmore, Psychologist

“He is probably the most influential psychologist of all time, if you look at the different streams of thoughts he influenced……He is so big hearted, as a scientist. He writes about the mechanisms of the stream of consciousness in a beautiful, engaging, literary, rich way, but he doesn’t dismiss other aspects of experience…….An extraordinary work and compulsory reading for psychology students, even though the book is over a hundred years old.” Read more...

The best books on Streams of Consciousness

Charles Fernyhough, Novelist