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24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorThe Sane Society
Erich Fromm · 370 pages
Fromm offers a complete and systematic exploration of his "humanistic psychoanalysis." In so doing, he counters the profound pessimism for our future that Freud expressed and sets forth the goals of a society in which the emphasis is on each person and on the social measures designed to further function as a responsible individual.
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
Steven Pinker · 802 pages
From Goodreads: Selected by *The New York Times Book Review* as a Notable Book of the Year The author of *The New York Times* bestseller *The Stuff* of Thought offers a controversial history of violence. Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as *New York Times* bestselling author Steven Pin
Status Anxiety
Alain de Botton · 306 pages
This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that rarely gets mentioned directly: an anxiety about what others think of us; about whether we’re judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser. This is a book about status anxiety. We care about our status for a simple reason: because most people tend to be nice to us according to the amount of status we have (it is no coincidence that the f
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind
Gustave Le Bon · 208 pages
"Gustave LeBon's The Crowd is not only a classic, but one of the best-selling scientific books in social psychology and collective behavior ever written. Here, LeBon analyzes the nature of crowds and their role in political movements. He presents crowd behavior as a problem of science and power, a natural phenomenon with practical implications. Originally published in 1895, LeBon's book was the fi
Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism
Melanie Joy · 224 pages
The Mass Psychology of Fascism
Wilhelm Reich · 400 pages
In this classic study, Reich provides insight into the phenomenon of fascism, which continues to ravage the international community in ways great and small. Drawing on his medical experiences with men and women of various classes, races, nations, and religious beliefs, Reich refutes the still generally held notion that fascism is a specific characteristic of certain nationalities or a political p
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion
Jonathan Haidt · 473 pages
A groundbreaking investigation into the origins of morality, which turns out to be the basis for religion and politics. The book explains the American culture wars and refutes the "New Atheists."
The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement
David Brooks · 424 pages
From the influential and hugely popular "New York Times" columnist and bestselling author of "Bobos in Paradise" comes a landmark exploration of how human beings and communities succeed.
Beyond Freedom and Dignity
B.F. Skinner · 225 pages
The Empathic Civilization: The Race To Global Consciousness In A World In Crisis
Jeremy Rifkin · 688 pages
Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals
Hal Herzog · 334 pages
Does living with a pet really make people happier and healthier? What can we learn from biomedical research with mice? Who enjoys a better quality of life -- the chicken destined for your dinner plate or the rooster in a Saturday night cockfight? Why is it wrong to eat the family dog? Drawing on more than two decades of research into the emerging field of anthrozoology, the science of human–animal
Everything Is Obvious: How Common Sense Fails
Duncan J. Watts · 335 pages
Discusses how the concept of common sense is inadequate in an increasingly complex world and draws on multiple disciplines to offer insight into the sources of such topics as popularity, economics, and self-deception.
The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction
Matthew B. Crawford · 320 pages
"A groundbreaking new book from the bestselling author of Shop Class as Soulcraft In his bestselling book Shop Class as Soulcraft, Matthew B. Crawford explored the ethical and practical importance of manual competence, as expressed through mastery of our physical environment. In his brilliant follow-up, The World Beyond Your Head, Crawford investigates the challenge of mastering one's own mind.
Civilization and Its Discontents
Sigmund Freud · 116 pages
Originally published in 1930, this book seeks to answer ultimate questions. What influences led to the creation of civilization? How did it come to be? What determines its course? In this classic work, Freud addresses the contest between aggression and eros, and speaks to issues of human creativity and fulfillment, the place of beauty in culture, and the effects of repression.
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
Philip G. Zimbardo · 551 pages
What makes good people do bad things? Where is the line separating good from evil, and who is in danger of crossing it? Social psychologist Philip Zimbardo explains how--and the myriad reasons why--we are all susceptible to the lure of "the dark side." Drawing on examples from history as well as his own research, Zimbardo details how situational forces and group dynamics can work in concert to mak
Mind, Self and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist
George Herbert Mead · 448 pages
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
Erving Goffman, Sven Bergstrom · 255 pages
A notable contribution to our understanding of ourselves. This book explores the realm of human behavior in social situations and the way that we appear to others. Dr. Goffman uses the metaphor of theatrical performance as a framework. Each person in everyday social intercourse presents himself and his activity to others, attempts to guide and control the impressions they form of him, and employs
Strangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help
Larissa MacFarquhar · 328 pages
"What does it mean to devote yourself wholly to helping others? In Strangers Drowning, Larissa MacFarquhar seeks out people living lives of extreme ethical commitment and tells their deeply intimate stories; their stubborn integrity and their compromises; their bravery and their recklessness; their joys and defeats and wrenching dilemmas. A couple adopts two children in distress. But then they thi
Mental Illness and Psychology
Michel Foucault · 90 pages
The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently-- And Why
Richard E. Nisbett · 288 pages
A professor of psychology examines the divergent ways in which eastern and western cultures view the world, offering suggestions about how today's interdependent global cultures may be bridged.
Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud
Herbert Marcuse · 277 pages
This is Herbert Marcuse's masterpiece which transfixed youth in the 1960s, convincing the New Left there was hope in revolutionary activity. It's also Marcuse encounter with Signmund Freud, well worth the time to decipher it. Narcuse is optimistic, in that if we tame or transform capitalism, we can fix ourselves. It's a far cry from Freud's pessimistic outlook.
Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
Carol Tavris, Elliot Aronson · 304 pages
At some point we all make a bad decision, do something that harms another person, or cling to an outdated belief. When we do, we strive to reduce the cognitive dissonance that results from feeling that we, who are smart, moral, and right, just did something that was dumb, immoral, or wrong. Whether the consequences are trivial or tragic, it is difficult, and for some people impossible, to say,