Psychology Books
recommended by psychologists
Last updated: December 06, 2024
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Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
by Christopher Browning -
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Life After Life: Interviews with Twelve Murderers
by Tony Parker -
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Innocent Blood
by P D James -
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Cries Unheard: The Story of Mary Bell
by Gitta Sereny -
5
The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception
The best books on The Psychology of Killing, recommended by Gwen Adshead
The best books on The Psychology of Killing, recommended by Gwen Adshead
Does anyone have the capacity to commit homicide? Forensic psychiatrist and bestselling author Gwen Adshead raises the chilling possibility that maybe they do, as she recommends five of the best books on the psychology of killing.
The best books on High Performance Psychology, recommended by Michael Gervais
To reach your full potential you must put as much effort into building mental resilience as you do into work or training, advises high-performance psychologist Dr Michael Gervais. Here, he selects five titles to help you find the right mindset—whether you dream of sporting stardom, artistic achievement or business success.
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The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
by Erving Goffman -
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Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World
by Mitch Prinstein -
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Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away
by Annie Duke -
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The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias
by Dolly Chugh -
5
The Odyssey
by Homer and translated by Emily Wilson
The best books on Making A Good Impression, recommended by Övül Sezer
The best books on Making A Good Impression, recommended by Övül Sezer
From the classroom to the boardroom, everybody tries (and sometimes fails) to be liked and admired by others. In this interview, Övül Sezer—Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at Cornell University—recommends five books that can help you make a good impression on everybody, including yourself.
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Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
by Oliver Burkeman -
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Make Your Art No Matter What: Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles
by Beth Pickens -
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Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself
by Nedra Glover Tawwab -
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The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self
by Martha Beck -
5
Seeking Wisdom: A Spiritual Path to Creative Connection
by Julia Cameron
The Best Self Help Books of 2021, recommended by Emma Gannon
The Best Self Help Books of 2021, recommended by Emma Gannon
Lockdowns have forced many of us to pause and consider the way we are living our lives, says the podcaster and bestselling author Emma Gannon. Here she highlights five of the best self help books published in 2021, with a special focus on creativity and setting better boundaries to safeguard our time and energy.
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The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World
by Oona Hathaway & Scott Shapiro -
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Homicide
by Martin Daly and Margo Wilson -
3
Statistics of Deadly Quarrels
by Lewis F Richardson -
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Violent Land
by David Courtwright -
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The Remnants of War
by John Mueller -
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Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty
by Roy Baumeister
The best books on The Decline of Violence, recommended by Steven Pinker
The best books on The Decline of Violence, recommended by Steven Pinker
Our TV screens may be full of news about war and crime, but this masks a fall in historical terms in the number of violent deaths that’s nothing short of astonishing, says Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker. He tells us how and why this happened. (This interview was updated 17 December, 2020, to include books that have come out since it was published in 2011)
The best books on Behavioral Science, recommended by Nicholas Epley
What can we draw from behavioral science to help us better understand each other? Nicholas Epley, Professor of Behavioral Science and Faculty Director of the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, recommends the five best books for learning about an interdisciplinary field that draws from psychology, sociology, economics and anthropology.
Best Books on the Neuroscience of Consciousness, recommended by Anil Seth
Nearly every human has a sense of self, a feeling that we are located in a body that’s looking out at the world and experiencing it over the course of a lifetime. Some people even think of it as a soul or other nonphysical reality that is yet somehow connected to the blood and bones that make up our bodies. How things seem, however, is quite often an unreliable guide to how things are, says neuroscientist Anil Seth. Here he recommends five key books that led him to his own understanding of consciousness, and explores why it is that what is likely an illusion can be so utterly convincing.
The best books on Cruelty and Evil, recommended by Paul Bloom
How do evil-doers justify their behaviour? A common view of evil sees dehumanisation as fundamental. Yale psychologist Paul Bloom argues, however, that the picture may not be so simple. The most callous acts of cruelty and evil involve recognising the human feelings of the victim, their ability to feel shame and humiliation.
The best books on Sigmund Freud, recommended by Lisa Appignanesi
Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Moravia in the Austro-Hungarian empire, Sigmund Freud spent most of his life in Vienna, until fleeing to London just before his death in 1939. Using his classical education to illustrate his points, he introduced the idea that we have an ‘unconscious’ that plays an important role in our actions. For his sessions when patients talked freely to him about their thoughts in a one-on-one setting, he coined the term ‘psychoanalysis.’ Freud expert Lisa Appignanesi talks us through books that shed light on his life as well as his work.
The best books on Essentialism, recommended by Susan Gelman
Putting people and things into categories is something we all do. It’s a useful shortcut but reveals biases. And it plays a role in everything from ethnic violence to childhood development, as psychologist Susan Gelman explains.