The Psychology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained

This is my kind of book. I am always furthering my education beyond what I am learning at University. Because I am still in college and reading constantly I really appreciate the format of this book. It is organized by the different divisions of psychology from social to child and within are the most significant people, theories, experiments, and concepts in a short story format. This makes it easy to learn a lot of information on limited time. This book is to the point on each subject and filters though unnecessary information and gives you what you need to know right away. I can enjoy learning new things outside my coursework because this book gives information in this short story format. I have taken a couple of courses in psychology but this book does not require the reader to have previous information in psychology in order to appreciate the knowledge the book contains. After this book I bought the religions and philosophy book by this publisher and will buy the business one as well when it comes out. Overall for the learner who is limited on time this (and others by the publisher) are for you. If you want something that is more specific, get something else because this one is an overview of all.

As one of the my favorite subjects, it's nice to have this information in my collection. Easy to read. Very comprehensive. A wonderful reference guide.

thanks

I have an above average IQ and I've always been interested in psychology (I have studied a good bit of it.), but some of the areas in the book are difficult to follow. Not most of them, but a few topics I had to read multiple times and I still didn't understand what point they were trying to make. I was stuck between 3 and 4 stars because I'm disappointed in the book as a whole... But I'm still glad I bought it. Most the ideas here are very interesting. But they are more of a starting point than simple explanation of the whole idea. Some of them are so specific I think it would be hard to follow up with Google to learn more about the topic. That being said I have learned concepts that I didn't know existed. It definitely covers a lot (not all) areas of psychology. (I've included photos of Contents. Sorry about the highlighting! As you can see some of the chapters have a silly title that don't make sense until you read it. Like: 'The magical number 7, plus or minus 2') This is a book that very few people will read cover to cover. You would most likely fall asleep. I found it most satisfying to read topics I thought might relate to me. I also skimmed through some of the chapters with a title that made no sense. Like, the "Dormez!" chapter is about hypnosis. There were also a lot of concepts that had nothing to do with the title. I don't know, I think this book must've been written for a very specific person because it wasn't what I expected. The "Big Ideas Simply Explained" is more like, "A Little Taste of Big (specific) Ideas". Another disappointment to me was that a lot of the studies provided as evidence were made between the 1950's - 1970's. For example, the concept about child development between infant and mother. The idea was that in the first two years of life, if child and mother didn't create an attachment or if the mother was detached, the child would suffer from emotional problems that appeared during adulthood. (Not able to make one-on-one relationships or attachments with one person.) This bond could not be replaced by the father because the father was hardwired to be the provider. back in the 50s through 70s it was uncommon for mother to be a provider. Therefore there couldn't have been sufficient studies on families where mother was a primary provider. Which we all know that is the case often with families today. Plus a LOT of single parent families. Of course this book is based simply on ideas from specific experiments and studies. A lot of the topics in the book don't give a lot of evidence as to why the psychologist believes one way or the other, just that he/she DOES believe it. It's still a good book in my opinion. It's a good way to come to your own conclusions or look further into each idea. It's just not a hard facts kinda book which I guess is what I was looking for. "Ideas" is the main word here. UPDATE: The more I read into this book the more I realize that this book would be PERFECT for small group discussions. (Maybe in like a classroom setting.) It's kinda painful to read this alone because a lot of the topic's conclusions are based on preferences and opinions. I'm sitting here in my mind like "No way, how could someone think that!" And I end up telling my side of the story to my husband--who has no idea what I'm going on about. There's more "dud" topics in this book than there should be, but there's few that are really interesting and get you to THINK. I hope my review was helpful to you! I would probably buy the book again if I could, just with different expectations.

Somewhere between a textbook and a coffee table book, The Psychology Book is a surprisingly valuable. Initially drawn to the fun cover and positive reviews of The Philosophy Book, I decided to give this a shot and ordered a copy. My initial reaction was disappointment, it seemed a too textbooky. But as I read and skimmed further (it's a book that I suspect few will read cover to cover), I started to appreciate the helpful effectiveness of what the DK editors have done, allowing one to get important, core ideas quickly. After presenting the philosophical roots of psychology (think the intersection of philosophy and phsyiology), the book is organized according to different psychological approaches or schools of thought such as behaviorism, psychotherapy, cognitive psychology, and social psychology. There is a timeline and brief history for each school followed by an encapsulated entries of key thinkers in that discipline. Here is where the design and editorial approach shines, as you can peruse the pages and find psychological thinkers who you may know little or nothing about and get the essence of what they focused on quickly. Each heading has a "capture the essence" quote which makes it easy to know whether you want to explore further. My one complaint is the book, just glancingly mention Irv Yalom, who is both a great writer and highly respected psychotherapist. If you haven't read or listened (I loved the audio version, which includes an interview with Yalom) to his master work, Love's Executioner: & Other Tales of Psychotherapy , I strongly recommend it and have given it as a gift many times. Definitely a must for anyone with a literary bent and an interest in psychology. Some quotes/outtakes I liked: >"The good life is a process, not a state of being" --Carl Rogers (p.130) >"Suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds meaning." --Viktor Frankl (p. 140) >"Compulsive behavior rituals are attempts to control intrusive thoughts." --Paul Salkovskis (p.212) I especially like this last one, as it's interesting to think of our obsessive thoughts (even if we don't engage in compulsive behavior) as attempts to control or prevent uncomfortable thoughts or emotions instead of just trying to experience them directly, as they are. There are many nuggets like that in the recommended book.

Great book

There is a lot of information and ideas here, so many perspectives. The human mind is complex. The history of psychology has many conflicting views, all of which are worth considering. It was hard to put it down.

Excelente

Great book, well worth a read.

We own a number of books in this series and we really like them. The whole family enjoys reading them and whether you only want an outline to give you a bit of insight into the subject or you are looking for an exploration somewhat deeper, this book will certainly be able to pique your interest. We found that it explains the subject well and in a concise but interesting manner and both older children and adults will learn a lot on the topic. The quality of the cover, pages and print is excellent. They are fairly hefty books about 1inch thick and approximately A4 size so to have the solid, colourful cover to keep the book in good condition is very helpful. They also look very attractive and invite the reader to pick up and explore what's inside. Great for home schoolers too. I can highly recommend this book for a foray into the subject.

It’s exactly what the title says, big ideas simply put. If you’re a beginner, it’s great as a useful starting point in your research into the psychology of the human mind

The book was paperback not hardcover, and it's ok since it was already mentioned in the description. It's also original. I was sceptic at first because Amazon offered it at 180 egp only, discounted from 1500. But the book IS original. Superb deal.

I really love this book. The book is huge and cute with beautiful images, quotations and a bit of sneakpeak into the psychologists. It is fun to read. I carried this book around in the beginning days as a precious little toddler as it is really really cute. The cover is attractive(although, the corners were knocked when i got it). You don't even have to read in order, just turn a random page and there you are! Entirely dissolved into the book! I'm a psychology student and I found many interesting information which weren't taught to me in my class lol. A few times, I wished some concepts were explained indepth. The book is great! But a lot of concepts I expected to read weren't there. It has simplified my various doubts regarding conditioning with charts and all. I love the charts because they make it easy for you to understand. But every concept in here gripping. This book can't be solely relied on if you want to make a very serious study into psychology but it's definitely worthy. It hook you up and gives you a quick insight into various stuff. It's like a textbook but the cute font, the images and attention-grabbing titles gives you a different experience. I think it's a must for every psychology lovers.