Psych Book Review
10) The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry - Jon Ronson
Great for: Psychopathology & Forensic psychology.
Written by a very funny journalist, this is a book about Jon travelling to meet and interview psychopaths and the psychologists who study them. Some great insights on how psychologists define abnormality and conduct meaningful research. The section about a study in the 1970s, where a group of violent psychopaths are stripped naked and given a ridiculous amount of acid (the haluncinagon) in an attempt to cure them is both shocking and makes me wonder why we give Zimbardo such a harsh time!
But the main focus of the book, is that psychopaths live among us, and we have set up society in such a way that they can succed!
9) The Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime - Adrian Raine
Great for: Aggression, Forensic psychology, relationships and biological psychology.
This book is fantastic, but I do have to give fair warning, it is exceptionally disturbing, both from the upsetting statistics of who murders who, and accounts of real crimes, but also the implications of Adrian Raines’s ideas. If violent, criminal aggression is biologically determined, how should we respond as a society? This question shouldn’t be avoided and as our understanding increases it’s likely going to become more viable to identify who in society is a threat. A great book, for genetics, brain activity and the evolution aspects of the relationship and aggression units.
8) Bad Science - Dr Ben Goldacre
Great for: Research Methods, issues and debates, Biopsychology & Psychopathology
Dr Ben Goldacre is a fighter for well-conducted research, both in science generally, but also where bad science can do the most damage, medicine. Poorly conducted research reported on poorly can have devastating implications such as the MMR hoax, something we are still living with, and has influenced covid vaccine sceptics. For your A-level, this book really brings to life some of the dryer aspects of your A-level research methods, such as the peer review system and the ethics and social sensitivity part of issues and debates. A great read, and, helpfully very funny.
7) The Brain by David Eagleman
Great for: Biopsychology.
The reason I love psychology is expressed best by David Eagleman, the brain is a wonderful, complex and awe-inspiring machine. It creates our entire reality out of the very limited signals it receives from the senses. We have just started to explore how that is possible with cognitive neuroscience and there is no better guide than Dr Eagleman. If you can see yourself researching at the cutting edge of psychology, this would be a good first step on that adventure.
6) Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Great for: Issues and debates (& everything)
Ok, this is a little bit of a cheat, this is anthropology more than psychology, but stay with me, Sapiens has deep connections to evolutionary psychology, and ultimately how we got here as a species. It’s my favourite non-fiction book and the first time I read it I had to stop multiple times to process the enormity of the implications of the writing. It has honestly changed my perspective on reality, especially how I see human organisations. It also provides ideas about the future of humanity that are at once terrifying and exciting.
5) A Road Back from Schizophrenia: A Memoir by Arnhild Lauveng
Great for: Schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is often the unit my students enjoy the most, there are a few reasons for this but one I imagine is the unusual nature of the symptoms, hallucinations and delusions seem so alien to people who dont have schizophrenia. But this makes me uncomfortable, the nature of the course means I need to explain the content and get on to the next topic, but all this talk of “participants” and “patients” is dehumanising, it’s so easy to see people with extreme mental health disorders as “other”.
This book is by Arnhild Lauveng, who is currently a clinical psychologist, however, she suffered as a schizophrenic for over a decade, and this is an account of her experiences with a medical system poorly equipped to deal with individuals going through crisis.
4) Peak Performance by Brad Stulberg
Great for: Memory (Sports and practical psychology)
I’m not the biggest fan of “self-help” books, I tend to feel they are either wishy-washy and “feel good” stories, or books with one good idea that can be explained in a paragraph, that the author then tries to spin out to 250 pages. This book is a focused collection of research-backed strategies, mostly from cognitive science. I have certainly used the techniques in this book to inform my teaching practice (chapter 3!) and it has played no small part in providing the focus I needed to produce psych boost all on my own
I often I get the sense students pick psychology because ultimately they want to better themselves, and when they start the course they struggle to see what is directly actionable, and are disappointed, I think it’s a shame the psychology of high-performance isn’t an element of the A level. But spending time learning about how we can perform at our best will help improve your grade!
3) Freakonomics by Steven Levitt
Great for: The connection between human psychology and the economy.
This, along with Sapiens is a bit of a cheat book to put on this list, but for a book on economics, it has a clear focus on how human psychology influences economic decision-making. Its a great read, from the psychological pressure to cheat, to how abortion may have reduced crime (very interesting link to forensics in this chapter!), and what makes a good parent.
2) Humankind: A Hopeful History By: Rutger Bregman
Great for: Social Influence.
This book on human kindness may annoy you a little, as you will see the story we tell you about obedience and conformity on the A level is very simplistic, and the research is deeply flawed, to the point that you may question why we even teach Milgram and Zimbardo (great evaluation material however!).
But the evidence in this book, that humans default to kindness and cooperation, gives a refreshing look at the reality of the social world we live in. It’s all too easy to see the media and despair about the future, more than any other book on this list, this book will give you hope!
1) The Psychology book by Nigel Benson
Great for: Well, everything.
This book was given to me as a parting gift from one of my classes, I thanked them, but had a suspicion from the cover that it would be a little simplistic, but I was very wrong, this book is packed with a wide range of psychological topics, many I had never seen before. This would be a great book to have on your bookcase to dip into and is a great preparation for those of you planning to go on to university and want to read a little wider than we have a chance to on the A level, without overwhelming your self with a university level textbook.
The links to these books are affiliate links, you don’t pay more if you use the link and decide to buy! But I do earn a small fee that goes towards funding Psych Boost!