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.

We Can Remember It for You Wholesale

by Philip K. Dick

Publication year 1966

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Truth & Lies, Space, Masculinity

Tags Science Fiction, Action & Adventure, Psychology, Technology, Philosophy, American Literature, Cold War, Fantasy, Classic Fiction

We Can Remember It for You Wholesale is a short story by renowned sci-fi author Philip K. Dick, first published in April 1966 in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. The story is about a man named Douglas Quail, who visits a medical facility which promises to implant fake memories about visiting Mars in his head. The story has twice been adapted into film, though both movie adaptations change the title to Total Recall... Read We Can Remember It for You Wholesale Summary

We Need To Talk About Kevin

by Lionel Shriver

Publication year 2003

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Nature Versus Nurture, Mothers, Daughters & Sons, Siblings, Forgiveness, Fame, Family, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Love

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Incarceration, Relationships, Grief & Death, Trauma & Abuse, Parenting, Modern Classic Fiction, Dramatic Literature, Psychology, Psychology

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a 2003 novel by Lionel Shriver. It is an epistolary novel, comprising the letters that Eva Khatchadourian writes to her husband Franklin in the aftermath of their son’s crime. The novel explores themes of nihilism, motherhood, the relationship between violence and depravity, and much more. The book won the Orange Prize for Literature in 2005 and was adapted into an acclaimed feature film starring Tilda Swindon and John... Read We Need To Talk About Kevin Summary

What Made Maddy Run

by Kate Fagan

Publication year 2017

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Psychology, Sports, Depression & Suicide, Journalism, Mental Illness, Psychology, Biography, Health

Kate Fagan’s What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen (2017) centers on Madison Holleran, a promising young athlete at the University of Pennsylvania who committed suicide in 2014. This is a work of narrative journalism that grew out of Fagan’s award-winning ESPN essay “Split Image” (2015). Fagan brings her experiences as a college athlete on a Division I team and her expertise as a sports journalist to explore... Read What Made Maddy Run Summary

What the Best College Students Do

by Ken Bain

Publication year 2012

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Education, Memory, Coming of Age

Tags Education, Self-Improvement, Education, Social Science, Psychology, Psychology

What the Best College Students Do, by American professor Ken Bain, describes how students can make the best of their college experience, not by trying to get good grades, but by studying deeply the topics that fascinate them. Filled with examples of students who followed their love of knowledge and went on to successful professional careers, What the Best College Students Do makes the case for deep learning, a process that provides benefits that can... Read What the Best College Students Do Summary

When Bad Things Happen to Good People

by Harold S. Kushner

Publication year 1981

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Forgiveness

Tags Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Self-Improvement, Jewish Literature, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy

Written by Rabbi Harold Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People is a contemplation on the death of his son due to a degenerative disease, progeria. As a devout man, Kushner’s first response was to ask, 'Why? Why did God permit such suffering?' The book documents Kushner’s grappling with this question, the doubts and fears it triggered, and offers others afflicted by grief comfort and solace. It proposes that while God desires to ease... Read When Bad Things Happen to Good People Summary

When Nietzsche Wept

by Irvin D. Yalom

Publication year 1992

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Mental Health, Fear, Death, Self Discovery

Tags Historical Fiction, Existentialism, Psychology, Philosophy, Modernism, American Literature, World History, Psychology, Classical Period, Philosophy, Classic Fiction

When Nietzsche Wept is a 1992 novel written by Stanford University Professor of Psychology Irvin D. Yalom. Set in Vienna in 1882, the novel imagines a working relationship between the famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the eminent physician Josef Breuer. Breuer believes that Nietzsche’s physical ailments have psychological causes, and he embarks on his newly invented “talking cure”—effectively a precursor to talk therapy and psychoanalysis. Eventually, through an agreement between the two men, it... Read When Nietzsche Wept Summary

White Fragility

by Robin DiAngelo

Publication year 2018

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Justice

Tags Race & Racism, Social Justice, Black Lives Matter, Sociology, World History, Psychology, Psychology, Self-Improvement, Politics & Government

Published in 2018, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo received critical acclaim and became a New York Times Bestseller for explaining how white people should address racism in the moment and how they can move into a new, healthier, less racist paradigm. DiAngelo holds a PhD in multicultural education and specializes in critical racial and social justice education.Plot SummaryDiAngelo stresses that all white people play... Read White Fragility Summary

Who Moved My Cheese?

by Spencer Johnson

Publication year 1998

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Fear, Appearance & Reality, Trust & Doubt

Tags Self-Improvement, Business & Economics, Leadership, Inspirational, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Philosophy

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, MD, is an inspirational advice book on how people and businesses can respond to changing times and situations by learning how to adapt quickly and successfully. The book centers on a parable about two mice and two people who live in a maze and search for cheese—the things each wants in life—and what happens when the cheese they’ve been enjoying disappears. First published in 1998, the book proved... Read Who Moved My Cheese? Summary

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

by Beverly Daniel Tatum

Publication year 1997

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race

Tags Race & Racism, Psychology, Education, Education, Sociology, World History, Psychology, Social Justice, Politics & Government

First published in 1997, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race addresses race and racism in the United States from a psychologist’s perspective. Beverly Daniel Tatum is a clinical psychologist with extensive experience in researching racial identity development. We need to learn how to have productive dialogues about race and racism, and to do that we need to understand how our racial identities form and how... Read Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? Summary