An Argument for Mind
By Jerome Kagan (Yale University Press)
The problem with psychology these days, according to Kagan, is semantics: The discipline is crippled by the overarching and strained language (made up of words like "anxiety," "reward" and "ego") on which it relies so heavily, and will not function as a widely respected science until it boasts a vocabulary of accurate and specific terms. In this career-memoir-meets-psychology-guidebook, Kagan reflects on missteps in disciplines such as behaviorism and psychoanalysis as one who has made some of these mistakes himself. He defends his idea of inborn temperament and concludes with the contention that today's neuroscientific focus on the brain is no replacement for understanding the mind.
The Butterfly Hunter: Adventures of People Who Found Their True Calling Way Off the Beaten Path
By Chris Ballard (Random House)
A calling is like true love—an elusive prize that everyone covets but no one can quite define. Ballard takes readers on a journey into the lives and psyches of 10 people in love with their jobs, including an ex-marine who inspects skyscrapers and a butterfly hunter who says, "This is just what I do, man." Each story is ultimately about courage, perseverance and independence. These enthusiasts and eccentrics tenaciously pursue their interests, disregarding the world's expectations. And so, Ballard concludes, should we.
Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness
By Pete Earley (Putnam)
To save his psychotic son, who has been jailed for breaking and entering, a journalist investigates the consequences of deinstitutionalizing mental patients. His narrative alternates between his son's difficulties and the larger story of the inadequacies of the modern mental health system. Earley's emotional trek can be exhausting, but anyone who has watched a loved one struggle with mental illness will sympathize.
By Daniel Gilbert (Knopf)
You think you know what you want: more money, that house or spouse, the career you've always coveted. Wrong, says a growing body of research known as affective forecasting. We are very poor predictors of how we will feel when we get what we crave. Gilbert,
a professor of psychology at Harvard, presents a lucid, charmingly written argument for why our expectations don't pan out. According to him, we're stuck in the present, but mentally inhabit the future. Gilbert's advice: Be careful what you wish for. And don't wish for it before asking others if it makes them happy.
Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good
By Jonathan Balcombe (Palgrave/Macmillan)
Why does a raven bathe? To escape parasites—or simply because it feels good? Pleasure is just as crucial as are pain and fear to understanding animal behavior, argues Balcombe, who is affiliated with the pro-vegetarian Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. He attacks the idea that animals are mere automatons enacting preprogrammed behaviors, and the entertaining examples of animal bliss he provides—from drunken parrots to the gentle caresses of fiddler crabs—bring a pleasure all their own.
The Imperfect Mom: Candid Confessions of Mothers Living in the Real World
By Therese J. Borchard (Broadway)
One cold afternoon, a moment's inattention nearly brought disaster for Borchard: Her toddler pushed another into the Chesapeake Bay. The soggy preschooler was fine, but she felt she'd been branded an Official Bad Mother. Shrugging off her shame, Borchard orchestrated this essay collection from other less-than-perfect parents. The book tells tales of mothers muddling through unforeseen mishaps: dead tadpoles, divorces, junk food and little girls who want to dress like Cher. Reflections on motherhood can be corny; delightfully, these range from poignant to hilarious.
Tags:
alternates,
animal behavior,
beaten path,
behaviorism,
chris ballard,
eccentrics,
happiness,
inadequacies,
inborn temperament,
jerome kagan,
mental health,
mental health madness,
mental patients,
motherhood,
pete earley,
psyches,
psychology,
random house,
skyscrapers,
stumbling on happiness,
yale university press
