There are numerous valuable works in the field of psychology. Tastes and preferences may vary between teachers but they have some similarities. Here is a list of popular and widely recommended books in the discipline:

“Man’s Search for Meaning” – Viktor Frankl

Man’s Search for Meaning is the shocking story in which Viktor Frankl tells us about his experience in the concentration camps. During all those years of suffering, he felt in his own being what a naked existence meant, absolutely devoid of everything except existence itself. He, who had lost everything, who suffered hunger, cold and brutality, who was on the verge of being executed so many times, was able to recognize that, despite everything, life is worth living and that inner freedom and human dignity are indestructible. As a psychiatrist and prisoner, Frankl reflects with words of surprising hope on the human capacity to transcend difficulties and discover a profound truth that guides us and gives meaning to our lives. l

«Introduction to psychology» – George A. Miller

The use of a double approach, historical and systematic, allows George A. Miller to expose the great themes of psychology as they have been raised since the end of the 19th century. The chapters dedicated to the narration of the constitutive process of the discipline – through the intellectual biography of Wilhelm Wundt, William James, Francis Galton, Ivan Pavlov, Sigmund Freud, Alfred Binet, etc. – alternate with the exposition of the cardinal principles and methods of the “science of mental life”: physiological assumptions of psychic activity, levels of consciousness and animal psychology, analysis of sensations and perceptions, gestalt theories, functions of memory, role of the unconscious, adaptation and learning, behavior and conduct, etc.

“The brain and its way of healing” – Norman Doidge

In his first book The Brain Changes Itself, Norman Doidge introduced readers to the most important transformation in our understanding of the brain since the beginnings of modern science; the discovery that the brain can change its own structure and function in response to mental experience; the phenomenon of neuroplasticity. His revolutionary new book shows, for the first time, how the amazing process of healing through neuroplasticity works. It describes natural, non-invasive ways of healing provided by the forms of energy that surround us; light, sound, vibration or movement, which can pass through our senses and our bodies to awaken the plastic brain’s own transformative capabilities without the need for surgery or drugs, or their negative side effects.

“Descartes’ error” – Antonio Damasio

What is Descartes’ error? For Antonio Damasio, one of the most prestigious researchers in neurophysiology, separating the body from the mind, with his thesis that thinking is the same as being, when it is precisely the opposite: in the beginning it was being, later it was thinking; we are, therefore we think.

“Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” – Robert Cialdini

The most important book on the science of persuasion that can change your life.

You have in your hands the masterpiece of persuasion. An extraordinary book that will help you be more effective at work and in daily life, maximize your charisma, improve your relationships and strategies to convince and reach advantageous agreements, in short, achieve success at all levels.

In this definitive manual, Cialdini explains, with scientific rigor and in a simple way, how to provoke the desired response in people and how to protect yourself against unethical attempts at persuasion.

A compendium of wisdom to become a skilled influencer.

“The art of loving” – Erich Fromm

The art of loving is a work with which Erich Fromm has helped several generations to reflect on love and answer some seemingly simple questions: what does it mean to love? How can we let go of ourselves to experience this feeling?

In it, Fromm considers love as an art towards others that requires knowledge and effort.

liquid love continues Zygmunt Bauman’s accurate analysis of society in the globalized world and focuses, on this occasion, on love. It tells us about the fear of establishing lasting relationships beyond mere connections; of solidarity, which seems to depend on the benefits it generates; of love for one’s neighbor, one of the foundations of civilized life and morality; and of the various projects to “dehumanize” refugees, the marginalized and the poor.

In liquid loveZygmunt Bauman, through one of the most daring and original reflections of our time, reveals the injustices and anxieties of modernity. But he is not absolutely pessimistic, he also expresses his hope in man, convinced that it is possible to overcome the problems posed by modern liquid society.

Think fast, think slow – Daniel Kahneman

An exciting journey through the functioning of the mind from the father of behavioral psychology and Nobel Prize winner in Economics in 2002: Daniel Kahneman.

In Think fast, think slowan international success, Kahneman offers us a revolutionary perspective on the brain and explains the two systems that shape how we think. Daniel Kahneman, one of the world’s greatest thinkers, received the Nobel Prize in Economics for his pioneering work in psychology on the rational model of decision making. His ideas have had a profound impact on fields as diverse as economics, medicine and politics, but until now he had not brought together his life’s work in a book.

The interpretation of dreams – Sigmund Freud

No theory about the functioning and structure of the mind has exerted as much influence or acquired such a preponderant status as the psychoanalytic doctrine, whose categories and explanations soon became the core of a radically new way of understanding psychic reality that has marked the modern world. Divided into two volumes in this edition, The Interpretation of Dreams played a decisive role within that enormous effort of subversion of values ​​and theoretical innovation. Written between 1895 and 1899, it is the first work in which Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) outlined with rigor and clarity the general lines of his hypotheses and methods. This new edition reintegrates the original distribution of the work and transfers the important complementary essay entitled Dreams to the second volume.

Flow: A psychology of happiness – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Learn to be creative and achieve genuine quality of life!

Every year, a multitude of titles are published in the world in which we are advised on how to maintain physical fitness, earn money, or develop self-esteem. However, what these books do not explain is how to increase “the quality of the experience.” We must ask ourselves: what really makes people happy? What is the basis for life being worth living?

For more than twenty years, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has dedicated himself to the study of “states of optimal experience”, those moments in which one feels possessed by a deep feeling of creative joy, moments of active concentration, of absorption in what one is doing. As a result of his research, the author explains that the core of the “Optimal experience” is a state of consciousness that he calls flow.

This book explains how this flow can be controlled, even provoked. Since everyone has, at some point, an “optimal experience”, it is about recognizing its characteristics and enhancing this feeling of strength, of overcoming the limited ego, in which time seems to disappear and with it emotional conflicts.

These books cover topics such as the meaning of life, introductory psychology, neuroscience, persuasion, love, decision making, dreams, happiness, and optimal flow. Remember that this list is only a general suggestion and that there are many other valuable works in the field of psychology that may interest you depending on your specific preferences and areas of study.