PSYCH!
Recommended Reading for People Interested in Psychology...
Books about the Brain, Behavior, and other Phenomena
Compiled by Cathy Belben, Librarian, Burlington-Edison High School
Updated September 2002
*= available in the BEHS Library at this time.
NON-FICTION
*Ackerman,
Diane. A Natural History of the Senses. (152.1 ACK)
In this fascinating book, Diane Ackerman explores the history of the
senses and their role in our everyday lives and behavior.
Greg Bottoms chronicles the events that led to his brother Michael's
psychotic breakdown and his eventual admission to the psychiatric wing of a
maximum security prison.
*Brehony, Kathleen A. Ordinary
Grace: an examination of the roots of compassion, altruism, and empathy, and the
ordinary individuals who help others in extraordinary ways.
(177.7 BRE)
Attempts to discover what motivates people to devote themselves to helping
others and profiles people who have found a way to act with compassion and
generosity.
*Casey, Joan Frances. The Flock: The Autobiography
of a Multiple Personality. (616.85 CAS).
The author describes her years-long struggle with Multiple Personality Disorder, a time period in which she managed a normal life, despite the chaotic comings and goings of her twenty-four separate personalities, all of which were unaware of each other.
*Colapinto, John. As
Nature Made Him.
In 1967, after a baby boy suffered a botched circumcision, his family agrees
to a radical treatment. The boy is
surgically altered to live as a girl, and for years, his family attempts to
follow this plan. But the boy, who
is called Brenda, knows that something is wrong, and resists attempts to
feminize his behavior and appearance. As a teenager, he confronts his parents,
and they admit the truth, and he begins to regain his male identity and live as
a male. A fascinating case study that demonstrates the nature vs. nurture
debate.
Coren provides research-based insights into the structure and form of the
simplified language that many dog owners use to communicate with their pets.
He offers examples of words, sounds, actions we can use to communicate
more effectively with our pets, and decophers the signs--ear motion, tail
wagging, head-tilting, etc.--that dogs give to humans to communicate happiness,
fear, playfulness, and other emotions.
*Crimmins, Cathy. Where is the Mango Princess? (362.1
CRI)
After her husband is brain-injured in a boating accident, Cathy Crimmins
must rebuild her life and help her young daughter understand and cope with the
changes in her father's personality. In addition, she must battle her HMO to get
the company to pay for the tremendous recovery needs of her husband.
*Cytowic, Richard
E. The Man Who Tasted Shapes. (152 CYT)
Synesthesia is a neurological disorder in which the circuits sending
signals from our sense organs to the brain are crossed, resulting in an
astonishing phenomena: victims’
perceptions are stranglely skewed so that they taste shapes, smell colors, and
have other disordered sensual perceptions. Amazing and fascinating book.
*Douglas, John D.
Mind Hunter: Inside the
FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit. (363.2 DOU).
One of the foremost forensic detectives for the FBI details a number of
high-profile crimes he has helped to solve in his career. Using psychological
profiling, the author has developed a method for determining the likely
perpetrator in a given crime.
Discusses how much influence a person's "emotional intelligence"
has on their ability to succeed in their personal life and their career.
*Healy, Beth. Endangered
Minds: Why Children Don’t Think. (155.4 HEA).
Explains how electronic media, fastpaced life-style, unstable family
patterns, environmental hazard, and educational practices influence the way our
children think.
* Jamison, Kay Redfield. An Unquiet
Mind.
Redfield tells of her own manic depression, the bitter costs of her illness,
and its paradoxical benefits. Jamison's ability to live fully within her
limitations is an inspiration to others. (review adapted from amazon.com).
Jamison, Kay Redfield.
Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide.
Jamison has studied manic-depressive illness and suicide both
professionally--and personally. She first planned her own suicide at 17; she
attempted to carry it out at 28. Now professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins
School of Medicine, she explores the complex psychology of suicide, especially
in people younger than 40: why it occurs, why it is one of our most significant
health problems, and how it can be prevented. Jamison discusses
manic-depression, suicide in different cultures and eras, suicide notes,
methods, preventive treatments, and the devastating effects on loved ones. She
explores what type of person commits suicide, and why, and when. She illustrates
her points with detailed anecdotes about people who have attempted or committed
suicide, some famous, some ordinary, many of them young. (review from Amazon.com).
Jamison, Kay Redfield.
Touched With Fire
The march of science in explaining human nature continues. In Touched
With Fire, Jamison marshals a tremendous amount of evidence for the
proposition that most artistic geniuses were (and are) manic depressives. This
is a book of interest to scientists, psychologists, and artists struggling with
the age-old question of whether psychological suffering is an essential
component of artistic creativity. Anyone reading this book closely will be
forced to conclude that it is. (review from Amazon.com).
Hospitalized for a vaguely defined personality disorder, Kaysen describes
her two-year stay at a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous clientele
and for its progressive methods of treatment.
*Kephart, Beth. A
Slant of Sun: One Child’s
Courage. (616.85 KEP).
Chronicles the four years since Donna's diagnosis as autistic and continues
the journey begun in Nobody nowhere, including sessions with her therapist, her
experiences attending college to obtain a degree in education, and her work with
autistic children.
*Kirwin, Barbara. The
Mad, the Bad, and the Innocent: The Criminal Mind on Trial. (614 KIR)
A forensic psychologist discusses some of her experiences with various
criminals including serial killer Joel Rifkin, and challenges the current use of
the insanity defense. This study of forensics and its application to criminal
detection is fascinating.
The author describes animal fathers around
the globe, and how various species produce fathers which especially attuned to
the needs of their offspring and responsible for much of their care. Among the
animals discussed are wolves, dogs, beavers, sea horses, marmosets, penguins,
lions, bears, and humans.
*Masson, Jeffery. When Elephants Weep: The Emotional
Lives of Animals. (591.5 MAS)
Examines the emotional lives of animals and the similarities between how
they behave and how humans behave.
*McElroy, Susan. Animals as Teachers and Healers: True
Stories and Reflections. (155.9 MCE)
The author discusses how she was able to triumph over cancer with the help
of the animals in her life, and shares the stories of other people whose lives
have been touched by the loving energies of animals.
*Page, George C. Inside
the Animal Mind: A Groundbreaking Exploration of Animal Intelligence.
(591.5 PAG)
Studies animal intelligence, cognitive ability, problem solving, and emotions in
various animal species.
*Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death:
Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. (302.2 POS)
Examines the effect of television and entertainment on our thinking and
social behavior.
*Provine, Robert. Laughter: A Scientific Investigation. (152.4 PRO).
The author, a neuroscientist, examines the role of laughter in our lives as
well as its evolution over time. He examines its role in social relationships, its
contagiousness, its neural mechanisms, and the truth about its health benefits.
*Richardson, John. In the Little World:
A True Story of Dwarfs, Love, and Trouble. (599.9 RIC)
The author was assigned to write an article for Esquire in 1997 on the
Little People of America Convention in Atlanta. The annual gathering brought
together hundreds of people with dwarfism and offered community, education, and
an opportunity for people who are often isolated by their disorders to gather
together. Richardson became
intrigued by the story and the relationships he developed with people at the
convention, and stayed in contact with several of his new acquaintances after
they left the convention. He traces the lives of a young couple, dwarfs who met
over the Internet and see each other for the first time at the LPA Convention; a
teenager from Australia with severe health problems related to her dwarfism and
whose mother's personal life spirals out of control after the convention; and a
cantankerous woman who becomes a close friend but whose contact with Richardson
is interrupted frequently by misunderstandings between the two.
Throughout the book, Richardson examines our society's perception of what
it means to be beautiful and have a high quality of life, as well as what it
means to be part of a subcultural determined entirely by one's physical
attributes.
*Rymer, Russ. Genie: A Scientific Tragedy.
The true account of the girl whose tragic life story has taught researchers
a great deal about language acquisition. Genie was discovered at age 13 living
in a closet, where she had apparently been kept by her mentally ill parents for
years. She had not acquired any verbal skills, and after her discovery, an
intense rehabilitation process began, in which researchers attempted to teach
her how to speak. When she was only able to learn very basic sounds, they
concluded that language must be acquired very early in life and throughout
childhood in order to be complete.
Sacks, Oliver. Awakenings.
*Sacks, Oliver. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
and Other Clinical Tales. (616.8 SAC)
In a series of engaging case studies, Sacks details the lives of people he
has encountered as a neurologist and describes how various mental illnesses have
affected their behavior. Includes stories about memory loss, autism,
autistic-savant syndrome, phantom limb disorder, and other unusual and
fascinating problems associated with brain injury and illness.
*Sheldrake, Rupert.
Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home and Other Unexplained
Powers of Animals. (133.8 SHE)
Filled with captivating stories and thought-provoking analysis.
This book is an exploration of animal behaviour that will profoundly
change the way we think about animals, and ourselves.
After extensive research Sheldrake proves what many pet owners already
know-that there is a strong connection between humans and animals that lies
beyond present-day scientific understanding.
A study of people's relationship with their hair, exploring the choices men
and women make to transform themselves through their hair, and looking at the
social and cultural issues associated with those choices.
*Simontacchi, Carol. The Crazy Makers: How the Food
Industry is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children. (615.9 SIM).
A revealing look at how American food manufacturers and their
"products" may be endangering our minds.
*Steele, Ken. The
Day the Voices Stopped: A Memoir of Madness and Hope. (616.89 STE)
Ken Steele chronicles his struggle with schizophrenia, discussing how he was
diagnosed and treated, how it affected his family, and what he is doing to help
others with schizophrenia cope with the disease.
*Tavalaro, Julia. Look Up for
Yes. (921 TAV)
The autobiography of Julia Tavalaro, a woman who suffered two severe strokes
at the age of thirty-two and remained in a coma for seven months before waking
up totally paralyzed, and then had to endure six more years of pain and abuse
before a young speech therapist noticed she was awake, aware, and in complete
control of her mind.
*Underhill, Paco. Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping.
(658.8 UND)
Retail anthropologist Paco Underhill discusses why people enjoy shopping,
how merchants attempt to control their customers, and how shoppers interact with
their retail environment.
*West, Cameron. First Person Plural: My Life as a
Multiple. (616.85 WES)
Cameron West describes his experience with multiple personality disorder.
He experienced the mental illness in his thirties, when he was already a
successful businessman, happily married, and a new father. Over a period of
several months, twenty-four distinct personalities emerge and recount specific
incidents of abuse West had encountered as a child--and kept long hidden.
*Wilensky, Amy. Passing for Normal. (362.1 WIL)
Passing for Normal is Amy's emotionally charged account of her lifelong
struggle with the often misunderstood disorders of obsessive-compulsive disorder
and Tourette's Syndrome. A powerful
witness to her own dysfunction, she describes the strain it bore on her
relationships with the people she thought she knew best.
Williams, Donna. Nobody Nowhere.
*Williams, Donna. Somebody
Somewhere: Breaking Free from the World of Autism. (616.89 WIL)
Chronicles the four years since Donna's diagnosis as autistic and continues
the journey begun in her first memoir, Nobody Nowhere, including sessions
with her therapist, her experiences attending college to obtain a degree in
education, and her work with autistic children.
*Wright, Lawrence. Twins and What They Tell Us About Who
We Are. (155.44 WRI)
Examines studies of identical twins who have lived entirely separate lives,
and discusses what that research reveals about the relative contributions of
heredity and environment to the makeup of individual human natures.