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Comment by pavs | Hacker News Reader

Sorry for being a bit off-topic. I have been reading up on psychology a bit recently and I would love to get some book recommendations. I am more interested in social psychology and behavioral psychology but would love to brush up on my knowledge on general psychology as well.

Currently I am reading my first psychology book in ten years: "Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious" quite an interesting read.

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I had a long-standing interest in psychology, but haven't found a single book worth crap. Psychologists seem to obsess over fancy terminology and say-so stories with absolutely no conception of anything remotely like a controlled experiment. The one exception I've found is this blog:

http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/

Although most of his posts just complain about the lack of quality in medical and psychiatric publishing. That, and his definition of narcism (creating a persona and acting it out) is without doubt the most insightful model of the psyche I'd ever stumbled on.

Cialdini's Influence: Science and Practice is amazing. It is almost a perfect mix (at least, in my opinion) between rigorous (citing studies) and accessible (using anecdotes, etc).

http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Practice-Robert-B-Cialdini/d...

Unfortunately, most of the best information I have received for psychology came from the two classes I took (Social Psych, and Behavior in Organizations). I learned a tremendous amount, but very little (if anything) from the other books.

I found this audiobook very interesting: http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=660

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