Psychology

Our Psychology Collection features a diverse group of study guides, from pioneering texts by Sigmund Freud and B.F. Skinner to self-help books and contemporary nonfiction about human nature, the mind, and social psychology. If you’re an educator looking to round out a college-level syllabus, or a book club organizer with a penchant for curiosity and dynamic discussion, this collection could help you find just what you're looking for.

Range

by David Epstein

Publication year 2019

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Fame, Art, Music, Science & Technology, Wins & Losses, Perseverance

Tags Business & Economics, Psychology, Self-Improvement, Science & Nature, Education, Sports, Music, Arts & Culture, Education, Leadership, Psychology

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Reasons to Stay Alive

by Matt Haig

Publication year 2015

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Mental Health, Disability, Masculinity, Fear, Self Discovery, Death, Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Courage

Tags Self-Improvement, Psychology, Health, Depression & Suicide, Inspirational, Mental Illness, Psychology, Biography

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Reclaiming Conversation

by Sherry Turkle

Publication year 2015

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Friendship, Family, Science & Technology, Education, Language

Tags Psychology, Technology, Relationships, Parenting, Science & Nature, Sociology, Psychology, Self-Improvement, Arts & Culture

Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age (2015) is a non-fiction work by Sherry Turkle. A clinical psychologist and professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT, Turkle specializes in human-technology interaction and has decades of experience writing on technology’s problematic effects on human connection. In Reclaiming Conversation, the book’s premise is in the title: Turkle believes that technology has detrimentally taken over human conversation and that we ought to... Read Reclaiming Conversation Summary

Regarding the Pain of Others

by Susan Sontag

Publication year 2003

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Memory

Tags Sociology, Military & War, World History, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Philosophy, Arts & Culture

Regarding the Pain of Others is a book-length essay by Susan Sontag published in 2003. Sontag initially addresses a question posed to writer and anti-war activist Virginia Woolf: “How in your opinion are we to prevent war?” but then, deducing that war is perennial, Sontag uses the remainder of her book to examine the relation between photography and feelings and ideas about war. She insists on discussing specific wars and specific photographers because each work... Read Regarding the Pain of Others Summary

Reviving Ophelia

by Mary Pipher

Publication year 1994

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Femininity, Family, Gender Identity, Coming of Age, Childhood & Youth

Tags Psychology, Gender & Feminism, Parenting, Women`s Studies, Education, Education, Sociology, Psychology, Mental Illness, Self-Improvement

Reviving Ophelia was written in 1994 by Mary Pipher, a psychologist who works with women and teen girls, studying the ways cultural norms impact their mental health. The book comprises a collection of Pipher’s essays, which are based on the interviews and focus groups with adolescent girls she conducted with her daughter, Sara Pipher. She wrote the collection to bring awareness to the cultural trauma and dysfunction experienced by adolescent girls and to assist girls... Read Reviving Ophelia Summary

Running With Scissors

by Augusten Burroughs

Publication year 2002

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Family, Coming of Age, Self Discovery, Sexual Identity, Perseverance

Tags LGBTQ+, Mental Illness, Humor, Psychology, Psychology, Biography

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs was first published in 2002 as a memoir. After several of the figures it features sued for defamation and dishonesty of its claims, however, it was recategorized as a book. It can also be classified as a bildungsroman since it follows the adolescent growth of its narrator and protagonist. Running with Scissors was adapted into a feature film in 2006.Other works by this author include Dry and A Wolf... Read Running With Scissors Summary

Sapiens

by Yuval Noah Harari

Publication year 2011

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Science & Nature, Anthropology, Anthropology, Sociology, World History, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Philosophy

First published in Hebrew in 2011, with the English translation following in 2014, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind examining the shaping of human history. Israeli author Yuval Noah Harari shines a light, sometimes harshly, on how humans have exploited the ideas of capitalism, religion, and politics to control the globe and put the species Homo sapiens on the threshold of banishing natural selection. Sapiens landed on the New York Times best-seller list and won... Read Sapiens Summary

Scarcity Brain

by Michael Easter

Publication year 2023

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Mental Health, Space, Self Discovery, Globalization, Religion & Spirituality, Science & Technology

Tags Self-Improvement, Health, Science & Nature, Philosophy, Leadership, Psychology, Psychology, Mental Illness

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Scarcity

by Sendhil Mullainathan, Eldar Shafir

Publication year 2013

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Conflict, Social Class, Economics, Equality, Wins & Losses

Tags Psychology, Business & Economics, Science & Nature, Sociology, Self-Improvement, Politics & Government, Philosophy, Psychology, Philosophy

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Self Reliance

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Publication year 1841

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Tags Philosophy, Transcendentalism, Education, Education, American Literature, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Self-Improvement, Classic Fiction

“Self-Reliance” is one of the most famous and representative works of the transcendentalist philosopher/author Ralph Waldo Emerson. Transcendentalism was a literary and philosophical movement of the early- and mid-19th century in the United States. Transcendentalist works stress the purity and goodness of individualism and community with nature, especially over the corruption and conformity of human society and institutions. This essay, published in 1841, is an exploration of self-reliance, or self-sufficiency, as a virtue. Emerson emphasizes... Read Self Reliance Summary

Shop Class as Soulcraft

by Matthew B. Crawford

Publication year 2009

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality

Tags Religion & Spirituality, Education, Education, Business & Economics, Sociology, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Philosophy, Self-Improvement, Arts & Culture

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work, published in 2009, is an often personal and meditative pitch for a cultural recommitment to the vocational arts. As a mechanic with a doctorate in philosophy, author Matthew B. Crawford has lived both lives—that of the “knowledge worker” of white-collar culture and that of the manual laborer who solves the problems society faces on a daily basis. He uses the space of the book... Read Shop Class as Soulcraft Summary