There are loads of must read fascinating books in psychology , so many that it can get really overwhelming. Google’s count for number of books in the entire world as of 2010 was more than 120 million, and it continued to rise at least 2 million every 3 years or so. Considering you are an average reader, who reads for an hour per day, everyday (which even most willing people don’t), you’d take around 2 weeks of dedicated reading to complete a 300 page book. And you would still take around a year to complete a list of ‘TOP 10, 15, 20 books for so and so category’ (i.e if you do manage to gather the interest, motivation and patience).
Sorry to call you out like that, but the thing is- psychology books in all their glory of appeal and fascination do require a dedicated read. One would definitely suggest you to be very selective in what book you choose from the never-ending shelves.
SO this article will hopefully give you a range of psychology books in a variety of specifications for you to choose from.
- Positive Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Academics
- Neuro-psychology
- Self-Progression Books
- Abnormal Psychology
- Self-Help Books
- Thinking and Perception
- Dark Psychology
- Classics/Pioneers
- Subconscious and Unconscious
- Existential Psychology
P.S- DO NOT let the long titles cloud your judgement. It’s one thing to not judge a book by its cover and another to not judge a book by its title.
1. Positive Psychology
The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It, Reviews (by Kelly McGonigal)
If you are curious whether Willpower is natural or if it could actually be improved and why there are periods in your life where you had an iron will, and other times why you just didn’t feel like doing anything- this one’s got answers to them all. Moreover it’s an amazing read for people exploring self control and its link to SUCCESS. Click here to check it out.
The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking (by Oliver Sacks)
This refreshing book is for you if you are already skeptical about the idea of positive thinking. Are you a glass full person or a glass empty person or are you someone who’d see enough water to throw it at the person asking you this question? Either way this is a cool read. Click here to check it out.
A Way of Being (by Carl Rogers)
I cannot possibly talk about positivity in a psychological context unless I name-drop this guy. A way of being is all about how to live, how to be in work, family, life. This unique collection traces his professional and personal development from the 60s to the 80s along with a person-centered prophecy in which Rogers calls for a more humane future. Click here to check it out.
The Happiness Hypothesis (by Jonathan Haidt)
This book perfectly illuminates modern truths in ancient and classic thinking—from Buddhism to Benjamin Franklin, the New Testament to Nietzsche and Plato to Freud showing how the field of positive psychology is tapping into something universal and timeless. Click here to check it out.
Authentic Happiness (by Martin Seligman)
This one dives into the nature of happiness and how everyone has the power to inject real joy into their lives. Certainly elaborates and appeals in terms of strength and positivity. In the preface, Authentic Happiness is stated to counter the belief that “happiness is inauthentic,” or fake. The book also aims to overthrow the idea that happiness is something fixed that can never increase…you can imagine the ride after! Click here to check it out.
2. Social Psychology
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Reviews (by Malcolm Gladwell)
The book that became a catchphrase! The term “tipping point” has become so commonly used in news stories that I wonder how many people know it came from a book. One of the things this book is about is trends. How do trends start? What makes it fashionable for kids to start smoking? Why do books by unknown authors suddenly become best sellers? How is it that two people can do much the same thing (and he gives a fascinating example from American History to explain this) and yet have completely different (in fact, nearly opposite) results? Click here to check it out.
Influence (by Robert B. Cialdini)
Do not listen to people who say this book is outdated because it still stands to be infamous for its quality to be ‘dangerous knowledge.’ Robert has a tiny disclaimer at the end of the book saying how he’s aware that this knowledge could be misused, but doesn’t go much further. Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say “yes”—and how to apply these understandings.Click here to check it out.
Social Psychology (by David G. Myers)
Some might say that it’s long and unbearably dense but it’s definitely a worthy one. It has got evolutionary views involving game-centered and gene-centered approaches. Which does beg for a controversy, however it is an interesting read anyway. Click here to check it out.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (by Susan Cain)
Did you know at least one-third of the people we know are introverts? They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion. I am going to let a quote from the book give you an idea about the whole. “There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” Yeah? Click here to check it out.
3. Academics
Okay you psych heads, Listen up!!
DSM-V
This one is your bible, your Surat-al-fatiah, your 10 commandments. Counseling? Psychotherapy? Psychiatry? If you want to be a good one up ahead in your career, breathe this! You can’t exactly “read” it, but you certainly need to understand it if you’re going to work in mental health. Click here to check it out.
Publication Manual of the APA
With millions of copies sold, this book is the style manual of choice for writers, editors, students, educators, and professionals in psychology, sociology, business, economics, nursing, social work, justice administration, and other disciplines in which effective communication with words and data is fundamental. Click here to check it out.
The Psychology Major’s Handbook (by Tara L. Kuther)
There is a lot of information packed into this short book. The first chapter introduces students to the scope of psychology and well… that opens you up to the universe that is PSYCHOLOGY. Click here to check it out.
Little Book of Psychology: An Introduction to the Key Psychologists and Theories You Need to Know (by Caroline Riggs and Emily Ralls)
This book basically gives a good and funny overview over the basic and most important psychological Theories. If you want to know your Freud from your Jung and your Milgram from your Maslow, strap in for this whirlwind tour of the highlights of psychology. Click here to check it out.
Getting In: A Step-By-Step Plan for Gaining Admission to Graduate School in Psychology
This book is a fantastic resource for anyone beginning (or in the middle of) the process of applying to graduate school in psychology. Its greatest strengths are its thorough breakdown of everything the process entails; its explanation of proper etiquette throughout the application process. Click here to check it out.
4. Neuropsychology
The Neuropsychology of Anxiety (by Jeffery Alan Gray & Neil McNaughton)
This completely updated and revised edition is essential for postgraduate students and researchers in experimental psychology and neuroscience, as well as for all clinical psychologists. The concepts sit clear through the neurology jargon, so don’t worry about that ;). Click here to check it out.
Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions (by Jaak Panksepp)
If you can slog through the dense information, the complex jargon, the advanced scientific concepts, you will learn more about consciousness and emotion than you probably knew that our science understood. The number of modern minds in the field recommending this book is considerably high! Click here to check it out.
The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good (by David J. Linden)
This book has more than what the name suggests it offers. It’s about brain chemistry and how naturally humans interact with substances and experiences, before the introduction of addiction into the equation. The author writes in a very accessible style so it’s not necessarily a self-help type of book but a more broadened read. Click here to check it out.
Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (by Oliver Sacks)
It’s written by a neurologist who works with people who have stranger-than-usual brain issues. And not only are the cases interesting, but the way he writes about the people involved is lovely. yep, lovely is the word. Click here to check it out.
Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (by Alex Boese)
The book is a nice blend of the HORRIFYING and the HUMOUROUS. Why can’t people tickle themselves? Would the average dog summon help in an emergency? Will babies instinctively pick a well-balanced diet? Is it possible to restore life to the dead? Click here to check it out.
5. Self-Progression Books
Mindfulness: a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world (by Danny Penman, J. Mark G. Williams & Mark Williams)
Get this one sooner than later, it is going to save you from a lot of frustration. It is known to be one of the most impactful ones in the long list of books on the subject. As long as it doesn;t just ask you to meditate right? Click here to check it out.
The Art of Choosing (by Sheena Iyengar)
Interesting little book that really makes its readers think about what they choose, whether it’s their purchases, their friends or even the simple act of saying yes or no. This will be an extremely eventful ride for everyone especially those who have not already read any of the behavioral gurus like Gladwell or Ariely. Click here to check it out.
Breaking the Cycle: Free Yourself from Sex Addiction, Porn Obsession, and Shame (by Andrew Adleman & George N. Collins)
If addictions to pornography, strip clubs, massage parlors, prostitutes, phone sex, or chat rooms have made you feel trapped, this book can help you find a way to break free. This one-ups those instagram posts about porn addiction, hell! i’d rather post quotes from this. very effective. Click here to check it out.
You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You’re Deluding Yourself (by David Mcraney)
This great work boils down to: “Despite millions of years of evolution your brain is a jumbled mess of neurons that covers up its downfalls by lying to you constantly. Here are just 46 ways your brain is being an asshole.” it’s what one would call a ‘literary high’. ENJOY! Click here to check it out.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change (by Charles Duhigg)
This book is everywhere and the reason it’s such a good book is because it uses research to explain how habits are formed and changed. Everyone knows someone who was out of shape, or was a smoker, and then in what appeared as if almost overnight, changed themselves in a short period of time. How did they do that? They formed new habits and changed old ones, that’s how. Click here to check it out.
6. Abnormal Psychology
Stop Obsessing!: How to Overcome Your Obsessions and Compulsions (by Edna B. Foa & Reid Willson)
The book basically preaches us to practice exposure instead of avoidance. Live in the distress and prevent yourself from relying on compulsive rituals. This is a great book for people suffering from OCD, or for friends and family of someone who has OCD. Click here to check it out.
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey through Madness (by Elyn R. Saks)
This is a memoir by a lawyer who has severe schizophrenia and talks about struggling to deal with it while getting through school and then using her unique insight into it to help others with mental illness. If anyone likes TED talks, the author has one where she discusses this also. Click here to check it out.
Understanding the Borderline Mother (by Christine Ann Lawson)
Ask yourself this before you buy this one- Was your childhood full of loss and/or emotional abandonment or abuse? Was your mother extremely moody, clingy, helpless, angry, unpredictable, crazy, rejecting, etc.? If you had/have a borderline mother, she might be quoted on every page or so of this well researched book. And if you have some traits yourself, you’ll find yourself saying “yikes!” more than a few times. IF NOT then it is still a really insightful book. Click here to check it out.
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness (by Kay Redfield Jamison)
An autobiography of a brilliant woman who suffered from manic depression (she resists the more watered down label “bipolar” because she thinks it hides the essential nature of the disease.) The book is an honest and profoundly dramatic memoir that reveals the challenges and sufferings faced by people that suffer from bipolar disorder. Click here to check it out.
Sometimes I Act Crazy (by Jerold J.Kreisman & Hal Straus)
For the purpose of learning basic information on BPD – its symptoms and treatment – this book serves pretty well. It is very much an overview, never going into too much detail on any one facet. It was fairly easy to read, and instructive, but it wasn’t what I was hoping for. Click here to check it out.
7. Self-Help Books
Undoing Depression: What Therapy Doesn’t Teach You and Medication Can’t Give You (by Richard O’conner)
This book should be re-titled as “In-depth understanding of Depression/Its causes and effects on depressive and loved ones”. It’s pretty good at explaining what depression is and what causes it. We learn depression, the author writes, because the skills of depression were at one point necessary for our survival. And everything we learn, we can also unlearn. And to explain the unlearning part, the book launches us into things such as mood journals and some basics of cognitive behavioral therapy. pretty cool, huh!? Click here to check it out.
The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society (by Henri J.M. Nouwen)
This writer’s book warrants a 2nd and maybe a 3rd reading. His insights are rich, dense, and provoke a lot of contemplation. This is most definitely not a book to peruse through, but something to meditate on. Click here to check it out.
Surviving a Borderline Parent: How to Heal Your Childhood Wounds and Build Trust, Boundaries, and Self-Esteem (by Freda B. Friedman & Kimberlee Roth)
Designed as a workbook for children of BPD parents to do introspective self work, this is best used as a follow up to Understanding the Borderline Mother or Stop Walking on Eggshells. This book does less explaining about the BPD parent then it does guide the adult child through the healing via questions, activities, and journal work. Click here to check it out.
The Body Never Lies: The Lingering Effects of Hurtful Parenting (by Alice Miller)
The belief that our repressed emotions can cause physical ailments is nothing new. What Miller offers that feels groundbreaking is this: children of abusers need NOT forgive their parent(s) in order to be free of the pain and damage. As a therapist Miller feels her profession too often preaches the typical morality of “honor thy parents”. I personally relate to this. Click here to check it out.
Ready to Heal (by Kelly McDaniel)
Ready to Heal can help you if you’re struggling in a relationship with a sex addict, facing your own sex addiction, obsessing about someone who doesn’t want you, or if you’re looking for deeper understanding of your romantic patterns. Basically if you are a millennial or a Gen X teenager on tinder….take away! Click here to check it out.
8. Thinking and Perception
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior (by Ori Brafman & Rom Brafman)
We’ve all made irrational decisions: be it in work, love, or finances. The question is, why? What psychological drive causes this behavior? Brothers Ori and Rom Brafman explore these burning questions in, “Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior”. Click here to check it out.
Thinking Fast & Slow (by Daniel Kahneman)
Are humans perfectly rational? This dude, Daniel Kahneman, got a NOBEL PRIZE in Economics for saying they are not. The book is a lengthy, self-conscious and a challenging read but highly recommended if you’re interested in why human beings behave the way they behave. Click here to check it out.
Outliers: The Story of Success (by Malcolm Gladwell)
I know, you don’t think you have the time and there are other and more important books to read at the moment, but be warned, you do need to read this book. Gladwell looks closely at success, and those who seem to have waltzed into incredible success…Canadian hockey players, who just happened to have been born in the right month of the year; Bill Gates, who just happened to go to a school where the PTA moms bought a new-fangled computer system. Click here to check it out.
The 48 Laws of Power (by Robert Greene)
When it comes to morality and ethics, people are used to thinking in terms of black and white. Conversely, “The 48 Laws of Power” deals primarily with the gray areas. Most of the Laws covered in this book can be used for great evil or for great good. It depends on the reader. There is really nothing wrong with most of the Laws. A priest might think otherwise, but well, no one’s forcing a priest to buy it. Click here to check it out.
Blink (by Malcolm Gladwell)
What all the stories, case studies, and arguments add up to- an attempt to understand the magical and mysterious thing called Judgment. Its basic premise is: split second decisions (snap judgements); how they can be good and bad. Gladwell suggests split-seconds decisions are better than the decisions where we take considerable time to weigh our choices and options. yeah, I didn’t get it at first either. Click here to check it out.
9. Dark Psychology
The Denial of Death (by Ernest Becker)
Becker’s main thesis in this book is that the most fundamental problem of mankind, sitting at his very core, is his fear of death. Being the only animal that is conscious of his inevitable mortality, his life’s project is to deny or repress this fear, and hence his need for some kind of heroism. Every grandiosity, good or evil, is intended to make him transcend death and become immortal. *sighs* He is very deep. Click here to check it out.
Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men (by Lundy Bancroft)
Bancroft describes the abuser mentality in a way that demystifies the cycle of abuse for survivors. As someone who works with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand and end abusive relationship patterns. The end of it can start from this book, you never know. Click here to check it out.
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil (by Philip Zimbardo)
This one is going to give you the creeps! Philip Zimbardo’s The Lucifer Effect is a difficult read, not because its premise is particularly startling, but because its examination of the psychology of evil shows it to be disturbingly simple. By placing each act of breathtaking cruelty beside a description of its perpetrator. It will make you want to work in a correctional facility by the end, so hold on tight. Click here to check it out.
Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI (by Robert K. Ressler)
Criminal psychology enthusiasts- round up… This book contains graphic descriptions of horrific crimes, photos of dead bodies at crime scenes, plus a lot of information that would be quite useful to killers wanting to fool those hunting them. HURRAY! Click here to check it out.
The Psychopath Test (by Jon Ronson)
Ronson is an excellent writer with a fine sense of humor who knows how to tell a good story in plain language. That he is able to do this while making subtle observations about our society. Rambling a bit and full of introspective thoughts by the author (most of which are interesting and entertaining if not always germane) we go through a series of interviews as a way of understanding the whole thing better. Click here to check it out.
10. Classics/Pioneers
Pioneers of Psychology (by Raymond Fancher & Alexandra Rutherford)
An impressively interesting description of how psychology emerged and formed into a science of its own. Without losing a good amount of gripping detail, the book offers a comprehensive explanation of how the science was extracted over the course of centuries, from other disciplines like philosophy and physiology. Click here to check it out.
Memories, Dreams, Reflections (by Aniela Jaffe & Carl Jung)
Carl Jung is hands down one of the biggest thinkers of the 19th century, most of his writings are a tough read but this one is an exception. A lucid and precise book that is also easy to read. These points will touch you the most: That Jung gives his internal experiences a much higher value than his external experiences. I wonder how long it took him to do that. Click here to check it out.
Beyond Freedom & Dignity (by B.F Skinner)
You know how dogs drool when it’s time for their food? yeah that’s also you when you get a text from him/her. Readers of this book will respond to it as they have been conditioned to and they will do so according to some of the processes covered in this book. Dr. Skinner dedicated his life to understanding the behavior of organisms. He is the Darwin of psychology. Click here to check it out.
Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (by Carl Jung)
Read this one at your own risk. One of his toughest reads, but well worth the effort. Jung demonstrates his mastery of complex material in describing his “Researches Into the Phenomenology of the Self.” If you’re new to Jung, I would not recommend Aion as the place to start; you’ll be totally lost and prone to dismiss the man as a crackpot, and be scared away at the least. Click here to check it out.
The Moral Judgment of the Child (by Jean Piaget)
Piaget is really the standard in developmental psychology. This is where any study of moral development must begin. Foundational book. Assumes away nature, but that is part of Piaget’s premise. Nurture will only take you so far anyway. Click here to check it out.
11. Subconscious and Unconscious
The Interpretation of Dreams (by Sigmund Freud)
High time I had mentioned him. Freud uses the subject of dreams as a base to build on, using dream analysis and interpretation as tools for his (at the time developing) psychoanalytic theory. It could be said that this is the book in which the author introduces his views and theory related to the unconscious mind. In this book, Freud often uses real-life anecdotes and events to discuss his dream theory. Click here to check it out.
Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious (by Timothy D. Wilson)
“Strangers to Ourselves” is a relatively quick and easy read that will spur an internal dialogue about things you may already intuit, but could stand to delve into a bit deeper (hence, the talk about conscious and unconscious thought). Click here to check it out.
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain (by Daniel Eagleman)
Very simply narrated neuroscience book that explains some of the most interesting neuro-scientific phenomena. The writer has an easy to read style with many examples, and even though he does not go deep, he tells a lot about interesting things surrounding cognitive science. Click here to check it out.
The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (by Carl Jung)
Jung is a MYSTIC who sounds like a scientist. Are you listening, sapio-sexuals? This is why his books aren’t so dry that they leave you wishing they would just never end. A difficult book, discussing many symbols that might give clues to all of us about where we’re coming from, THE roots of the roots,,, if you will. Click here to check it out.
Psychology of Unconscious (by Carl Jung)
AGAIN HIM? It’s not my fault he is a genius!! We are only beginning to really understand the complexity of the man and his ideas. This is a must read for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of Jung’s theories. Here Jung examines dreams, mythology, and literature in order to shed light on the repressed aspects of the psyche held within the unconscious. Click here to check it out.
12. Existential Psychology
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (by Jordan B. Peterson)
Another one of my favorite thinkers, except this one is as modern and as rooted into the subject as one can ask for. Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist, with years of knowledge and experience along with a very keen understanding of the literature in psychology. Jordan Peterson may be the only clinical psychologist who believes that psychology is subordinate to philosophy and the one thing that psychology and philosophy both genuflect before is story. Story, or myth, predates religion and is, in fact, as old as language itself. It is typical Peterson with large amounts of insightful information and wit. Click here to check it out.
Modern Man In Search of a Soul (by Carl Jung)
At this point I am basically fan-girling Carl Jung. Jung examines some of the most contested and crucial areas in the field of analytical psychology, including dream analysis, the primitive unconscious, and the relationship between psychology and religion. Click here to check it out.
Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief (by Jordan B. Peterson)
This guy has become the father figure of the intellectual types all around the world, check him out on youtube if you don’t mind having your liberal beliefs DESTROYED to pieces. In Maps of Meaning, he attempts to explain the neuropsychological, phenomenological, and behavioral basis of mythological imagery while trying to encourage the reader towards the behavioral path of “heroic” exploration. He carries Jung’s torch! Click here to check it out.
The Architecture of the Mind: Massive Modularity and the Flexibility of Thought (by Peter Carruthers)
Clear, scientifically rigorous, has a novel thesis, direct, filled with interesting examples and convincing. Peter Carruthers, a leading philosopher of mind, provides a comprehensive development and defense of one of the guiding assumptions of evolutionary psychology: that the human mind is composed of a large number of semi-independent modules. Click here to check it out.
Man’s Search for Meaning (by Viktor Frankl)
I thought I’d delay the cliché and here I am with Viktor Frankl’s ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’. Cliché yet a heavy hearted piece of genius and that’s exactly how it resonates. How is it possible to write dispassionately about life in a concentration camp in such a way as to engender great feelings in the reader? This is how Frankl dealt with his experience of those terrible years. Click here to check it out.
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3 Responses
Going to keep this list so close to my heart now. Can’t thank enough!!
Glad it helped ^^
Amazing choices! The list is comprehensive and looks well researched! Thanks for sharing, it is indeed helpful!