The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success

How the Mind Works

Steven Pinker · 661 pages

"Presented with extraordinary lucidity, cogency and panache...Powerful and gripping...To have read [the book] is to have consulted a first draft of the structural plan of the human psyche...a glittering tour de force" - Spectator "Why do memories fade? Why do we lose our tempers? Why do fools fall in love? Pinker's objective in this erudite account is to explore the nature and history of the human

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

Simon Baron-Cohen · 256 pages

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.

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 Self Illusion: Why There is No 'You' Inside Your Head [Extract]

Bruce M. Hood · 349 pages

Most of us believe that we are unique and coherent individuals, but are we? The idea of a "self" has existed ever since humans began to live in groups and become sociable. Those who embrace the self as an individual in the West, or a member of the group in the East, feel fulfilled and purposeful. This experience seems incredibly real but a wealth of recent scientific evidence reveals that this not

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

Julian Jaynes · 486 pages

At the heart of this classic, seminal book is Julian Jaynes's still-controversial thesis that human consciousness did not begin far back in animal evolution but instead is a learned process that came about only three thousand years ago and is still developing. The implications of this revolutionary scientific paradigm extend into virtually every aspect of our psychology, our history and culture, o

The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It

Kelly McGonigal · 288 pages

The first book to explain the new science of self-control and how it can be harnessed to improve our health, happiness, and productivity. After years of watching her students struggling with their choices, health psychologist Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., realized that much of what people believe about willpower is actually sabotaging their success. Committed to sharing what the scientific community

The Illusion of Conscious Will

Daniel M. Wegner · 405 pages

Social Intelligence: The Revolutionary New Science of Human Relationships

Daniel Goleman · 403 pages

Explores the nature of human relationships, finding that humans are "wired to connect," and bringing together the latest research in biology and neuroscience to reveal how one's daily encounters shape the brain and affect the body. "Humans have a built-in bias toward empathy, cooperation and altruism, provided we develop the social intelligence to nurure these capabilities in ourselves and others.

An Outline of Psycho-Analysis

Sigmund Freud · 75 pages

"In June 1938, at eighty-two, Freud began writing this terse survey of the fundamentals of psychoanalysis. He marshals here the whole range of psychoanalytic theory and therapy in lucid prose and continues his open-mindedness to new departures, such as the potential of drug therapy. While the book remains unfinished, it covers the essentials of psychoanalysis" -- Back cover.

On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not

Robert A. Burton

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

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

Sam Harris · 256 pages

For the millions of Americans who want spirituality without religion, Waking Up is a guide to meditation as a rational practice informed by neuroscience and psychology. From Sam Harris, neuroscientist and author of numerous New York Times bestselling books, Waking Up is for the twenty percent of Americans who follow no religion but who suspect that important truths can be found in the experienc

The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload

Daniel J. Levitin · 528 pages

The information age is drowning us with an unprecedented deluge of data. At the same time, we’re expected to make more—and faster—decisions about our lives than ever before. No wonder, then, that the average American reports frequently losing car keys or reading glasses, missing appointments, and feeling worn out by the effort required just to keep up. But somehow some people become quite accom

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain

David Eagleman · 290 pages

"This book will shine light on some of the hard-to-reach places in the brain, showing the ways in which we are not the ones driving the boat. Why does the conscious mind know so little? What do visual illusions unmask about the machinery running under the hood? How much of our lives are determined by choices and behaviors that are hard-wired, unconscious, and beyond our control? Do we have any man

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

Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior

Leonard Mlodinow · 272 pages

The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life

Alison Gopnik · 288 pages

A revelatory examination of how babies and young children think draws on new scientific understandings to identify links between key behaviors and subsequent abilities, explaining how the latest findings offer profound insight into the nature of being human.

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 Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers

Daniel L. Schacter · 279 pages

"Daniel L. Schacter, chairman of Harvard University's Psychology Department and a leading expert on memory, has developed the first framework that describes the basic memory miscues we all encounter. Just like the seven deadly sins, the seven memory sins appear routinely in everyday life. Schacter explains how transience reflects a weakening of memory over time, how absent-mindedness occurs when f

Meet Your Happy Chemicals: Dopamine, Endorphin, Oxytocin, Serotonin

Loretta Graziano Breuning · 210 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

A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness

Michael Pollan · 320 pages

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry

Jon Ronson · 275 pages

"In this madcap journey, a bestselling journalist investigates psychopaths and the industry of doctors, scientists, and everyone else who studies them. The Psychopath Test is a fascinating journey through the minds of madness. Jon Ronson's exploration of a potential hoax being played on the world's top neurologists takes him, unexpectedly, into the heart of the madness industry. An influential psy