1. Thinking Fast and Slow , by Daniel Kahneman, 2011 – If you want to understand how people think and how and why they react, then this is a must read. Daniel Kahneman is a Nobel prize winner in Economics, but this book is all about how people think and react. […]
2. Redirect , by Timothy Wilson, 2011 – […] If you want to know how to make permanent and lasting change in your behavior, or the behavior of someone you know, then this is the book to read. Wilson covers the recent and often very surprising research on interventions and therapies that result in people actually changing. […]
3. Drive , by Daniel Pink, 2011 – What really motivates people? This book covers the research on human motivation in the last few years. It’s well written, and an easy read, and will explode some long-standing beliefs.
4, The Invisible Gorilla ,by Chabris and Simon, 2011 – Chabris and Simon explain their research that shows how what we think we are seeing and experiencing is not really what’s out there. A fun book about how we deceive ourselves.
_ 5. Ho __ w We Decide , by Jonah Lehrer, 2009 – There’s been a big controversy lately about Jonah Lehrer. But that surrounds his later book, _Imagine. No matter what people are saying and writing about Jonah Lehrer, How We Decide is a great book. […] It’s a small book, and has lots of research in it, but it is quite readable. Highly recommended if you want to understand the how and why of human decision-making.
_ 6. Strangers to Ourselves: The Adaptive Unconscious , by Timothy Wilson, 2004 – This is the book that actually got me started seriously on the topic of the unconscious. I had read _Blink (Malcolm Gladwell) and although that was an interesting book, I wanted more depth and detail. […]
_ 7. Stumbling on Happiness _, by Dan Gilbert, 2007 – This is a fun read. I don’t think it’s really about Happiness, so I don’t totally understand the title. To me it’s mainly about memory of the past, and anticipation about the future, and the research on how accurate or inaccurate we are about both past and future. It’s full of fascinating research, but is written in a very readable way.
_ 8. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion _, by Robert Cialdini, 2006 – […] This book is the “granddaddy” of all the other books on the topic of persuasion. A very worthwhile read. Interesting too, because at the time he originally wrote this book each chapter had a section on how to RESIST the persuasive techniques. He wasn’t a proponent of using them; he wanted you to know about them so you wouldn’t fall prey. He did a turn-around on that mindset for his later work and writing.
_ 9. Brain Rules: 12 Principles For Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School _, by John Medina, 2009 – […] If you want a basic book that explains some basic brain functioning I would definitely read this book.
_ 10. Predictably Irrational _, by Dan Ariely, 2008. […] If you have read my blog posts or books you know that I believe that it is not that our decision-making or mental processing is “irrational”. It’s unconscious, but that doesn’t mean irrational or bad. Our unconscious mental processing works most of the time. Ariely’s view is that we are irrational and irrational means bad, and that we should learn how to counteract our mental processing. I don’t agree. But the research in the book is still good (it’s his interpretations and recommendations I take issue with).
I’ve read and can recommend “Drive”, “Brain Rules” and “Predictably Irrational”. “Thinking Fast and Slow” is on my list for later this year.
I haven’t read “Stumbling on Happiness” yet, but I’ve seen Dan Gilbert’s interesting TED talk, “Why are we happy?”