Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average

The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us

Christopher Chabris, Daniel Simons · 306 pages

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

Joshua Foer · 307 pages

The blockbuster phenomenon that charts an amazing journey of the mind while revolutionizing our concept of memory “Highly entertaining.” —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker “Funny, curious, erudite, and full of useful details about ancient techniques of training memory.” —The Boston Globe An instant bestseller that has now become a classic, Moonwalking with Einstein recounts Joshua Foer's yearlo

Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us

Joe Palca, Flora Lichtman · 262 pages

"Two crackerjack science journalists from NPR look at why some things (and some people!) drive us crazy It happens everywhere? offices, schools, even your own backyard. Plus, seemingly anything can trigger it cell phones, sirens, bad music, constant distractions, your boss, or even your spouse. We all know certain things get under our skin. Can science explain why? Palca and Lichtman take you on a

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

Steven Pinker · 528 pages

In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading experts on language and the mind, explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits-a doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century-denies our common humanity and our individual

How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like

Paul Bloom · 280 pages

In this fascinating and witty account, Yale psychologist Paul Bloom draws on insights from child development, philosophy, neuroscience, and behavioral economics to examine the science behind our curious desires, attractions, and tastes, covering everything from the animal instincts for sex and food to the uniquely human taste for art, music, and stories.

The Science of Superstition

Bruce M. Hood

"John McEnroe notoriously refused to step on the white lines of a tennis court between points. Wade Boggs insisted on eating a chicken dinner before every Boston Red Sox game. Presidential candidate Barak Obama played a game of basketball the morning of his victory in the Iowa primary, and continued the tradition the day of every following primary. Superstitious habits are common. Do you ever cros

Fooling Houdini: Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks, and the Hidden Powers of the Mind

Alex Stone · 310 pages

50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior

Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, Barry L. Beyerstein · 352 pages

50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology uses popular myths as a vehicle for helping students and laypersons to distinguish science from pseudoscience. Uses common myths as a vehicle for exploring how to distinguish factual from fictional claims in popular psychology Explores topics that readers will relate to, but often misunderstand, such as "opposites attract," "people use only 10% of their br

Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life

Dacher Keltner · 352 pages

A new examination of the surprising origins of human goodness.

Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise

K. Anders Ericsson · 307 pages

Draws on the examples of chess champions, violin virtuosos, star athletes, and memory mavens to outline a powerful approach to learning that enables proficiency through strategic goal setting, self-motivation, and feedback exercises.

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why

Amanda Ripley · 304 pages

Nine out of ten Americans live in places at significant risk of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorism, or other disasters. Tomorrow, some of us will have to make split-second choices to save ourselves and our families. How will we react? What will it feel like? Will we be heroes or victims? Will our upbringing, our gender, our personality--anything we've ever learned, thought, or dreamed o

Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior

Leonard Mlodinow · 272 pages

The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty

Simon Baron-Cohen · 256 pages

Stumbling on Happiness

Daniel Todd Gilbert · 310 pages

A smart and funny book by a prominent Harvard psychologist, which uses groundbreaking research and (often hilarious) anecdotes to show us why we're so lousy at predicting what will make us happy -- and what we can do about it.Most of us spend our lives steering ourselves toward the best of all possible futures, only to find that tomorrow rarely turns out as we had expected. Why? As Harvard psychol

The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths

Michael Shermer · 385 pages

Shermer demonstrates how our brains selectively assess data in an attempt to confirm the conclusions (beliefs) we've already reached. Drawing on evolution, cognitive science, and neuroscience, he considers not only supernatural beliefs but political and economic ones as well.

Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

Stuart Brown, Christopher Vaughan · 229 pages

From a leading expert, a groundbreaking book on the science of play, and its essential role in fueling our intelligence and happiness throughout our lives.We’ve all seen the happiness in the face of a child while playing in the school yard. Or the blissful abandon of a golden retriever racing with glee across a lawn. This is the joy of play. By definition, play is purposeless and all-consuming. An

Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Differences

Cordelia Fine · 320 pages

Subtitle: How our minds, society, and neurosexism create difference Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience and psychology, the author criticizes claims about innate biological differences between men and women's minds as being faulty and exaggerated and considers how cultural and societal beliefs contribute to sex differences. Cornelia Fine is an academic psychologist.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell · 288 pages

Intuition is not some magical property that arises unbidden from the depths of our mind. It is a product of long hours and intelligent design, of meaningful work environments and particular rules and principles. This book shows us how we can hone our instinctive ability to know in an instant, helping us to bring out the best in our thinking and become better decision-makers in our homes, offices a

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Susan Cain · 360 pages

Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. Taking the reader on a journey from Dale Carnegie's birthplace to Harvard Business School, from a Tony Robbins seminar to an evangelical megachurch, Susan Cain charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal in the twentieth

The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory

Julia Shaw · 296 pages

Think you have a good memory? Think again. Memories are our most cherished possessions. We rely on them every day of our lives. They make us who we are. And yet the truth is they are far from being the accurate record of the past we like to think they are. True, we can all admit to having suffered occasional memory lapses, such as entering a room and immediately forgetting why, or suddenly being u

The Man Who Couldn't Stop

David Adam · 324 pages

**An intimate look at the power of intrusive thoughts, how our brains can turn against us, and living with obsessive compulsive disorder** Have you ever had a strange urge to jump from a tall building or steer your car into oncoming traffic? You are not alone. In this captivating fusion of science, history, and personal memoir, David Adam explores the weird thoughts that exist within every mind

The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom

Jonathan Haidt · 297 pages

Applies the latest findings in psychology and brain research to the wisdom of the ancients to define what makes people happy and how you can find more happiness in your life. Confirms and builds on the happiness formula defined by other psychologists: H=S+C+V or Happiness = your biological Setpoint + the Conditions of your life + the Voluntary activities you do

The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human

Jonathan Gottschall · 271 pages

Surviving Survival: The Art and Science of Resilience

Laurence Gonzales · 272 pages