Psych: The Story of the Human Mind

"So let me start with a round-up of books by past Five Books interviewees—that is, individuals we have previously highlighted as experts in their fields. Paul Bloom published a new book, Psych: The Story of the Human Mind , which serves as an accessible and highly readable overview of the field of psychology. It draws from his immensely popular introductory psychology class at Yale, reportedly one of the university’s most popular courses of all time. In it, he leads the reader through the work of early researchers (including Pavlov’s dogs and Skinner’s pigeons), into a discussion of the malleability of memory and emotion, and the complex questions surrounding consciousness . The New Scientist said it was “an ambitious, up-to-the-minute, comprehensive” introduction; it would be perfect for the curious layman or a switched-on school leaver considering a degree in psychology. The Duke University psychologist Dan Ariely—who we once interviewed about the best books on behavioural economics —published Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things . It digs into our bizarre attraction towards misinformation and ‘alternative facts.’ In the context of the fake news crisis, social media bubbles, and the rise of unnervingly convincing narratives produced by artificial intelligences, this book couldn’t be more timely. And the New York Times columnist David Brooks ( The Social Animal , The Second Mountain ) offered up a new book about social psychology through the lens of self-improvement, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen."