The 22 Best Psychology Books of All Time

Freudian foundations, lab-coat experiments and modern bestsellers share a shelf here, with plenty of room for arguments over what counts as science.

1. 1
   Man's Search for Meaning

   Viktor Frankl's account of surviving the Nazi camps and the logotherapy that grew from it.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Thinking, Fast and Slow

   Daniel Kahneman's 2011 tour of the two systems that drive human judgment and decision-making.
   905pts
3. 3
   Games People Play

   Eric Berne's 1964 classic on the hidden scripts in everyday social interactions.
   821pts
4. 4
   Escape from Freedom

   Erich Fromm's 1941 analysis of why people give up liberty for authoritarian security.
   665pts
5. 5
   The Denial of Death

   Ernest Becker's Pulitzer-winning argument that fear of death shapes human behavior.
   596pts
6. 6
   Flow

   Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's research on optimal experience and absorbed focus.
   596pts
7. 7
   The Lucifer Effect

   Philip Zimbardo on how ordinary people turn cruel, drawing on the Stanford prison experiment.
   596pts
8. 8
   The Body Keeps the Score

   Bessel van der Kolk's influential account of how trauma is stored in body and brain.
   596pts
9. 9
   Grit

   Angela Duckworth's case for passion and perseverance as predictors of success.
   517pts
10. 10
    The Righteous Mind

    Jonathan Haidt on the moral intuitions that divide people on politics and religion.
    423pts
11. 11
    Learned Optimism

    Martin Seligman's argument that optimism can be taught and rewires resilience.
    423pts
12. 12
    Man and His Symbols

    Carl Jung's accessible introduction to archetypes and the symbolism of dreams.
    423pts
13. 13
    Mindset

    Carol Dweck's book on fixed versus growth mindsets and how they shape achievement.
    423pts
14. 14
    Emotional Intelligence

    Daniel Goleman's 1995 bestseller arguing that emotional skill matters as much as IQ.
    423pts
15. 15
    The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

    Oliver Sacks's case histories of patients with strange neurological disorders.
    423pts
16. 16
    The Interpretation of Dreams

    Sigmund Freud's 1899 foundational text on the unconscious and dream analysis.
    310pts
17. 17
    Obedience to Authority

    Stanley Milgram's own account of his shock experiments on obedience.
    310pts
18. 18
    Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)

    Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson on cognitive dissonance and self-justification.
    310pts
19. 19
    The Happiness Hypothesis

    Jonathan Haidt weighs ancient wisdom against modern psychology on living well.
    0pts
20. 20
    The Art of Loving

    Erich Fromm's 1956 study of love as a skill that can be developed.
    0pts
21. 21
    On Becoming a Person

    Carl Rogers's humanistic classic on therapy and personal growth.
    0pts
22. 22
    The Principles of Psychology

    William James's 1890 two-volume landmark that founded American psychology.
    0pts

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