The Bedside Book of Psychology

by Christian Jarrett, Joanna Ginsburg

Attractively packaged, this book is thematically structured, covering all the key areas of psychology - perception and action, memory, cognition, affect, the social self, personality, anxiety and sleep.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Reference, Philosophy

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

A cognitive neuroscientist by training, Christian Jarrett has been popularizing psychology and neuroscience for over two decades. His award-winning writing on the mind, brain, and behavior has appeared in publications across the world, including the BBC, New York magazine, VICE, Aeon, The Guardian, GQ, WIRED, and many more. Today he is Editor of Psyche, a digital magazine that illuminates the human condition. Dr. Jarrett has written several critically acclaimed books including The Rough Guide to Psychology and Great Myths of the Brain. He was also a consultant editor and lead author for the best-selling 30-Second Psychology. He lives in the countryside near Brighton, England with his wife and twins (a boy and a girl) and their miniature schnauzer.

Reviews

[k8 conroy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I took psych 101 in my last semester of college just for fun, and Psychology: Adventures in Perception and Personality essentially covered everything I learned in that class. I actually bought this book years before taking that class and never got around to reading it until recently. In any case, this book has some interesting information, but the writing is seriously poor. So many sentences are phrased really strangely, and there are a number of grammatical errors. Not sure where the editor was on this one. The structure of the book is poorly done as well. Rather than regular paragraphs, all the information is put in colorful boxes that are arranged rather strangely on the page. I’m not sure how to explain it in words, but I’ll just say that sometimes the structure forced me to turn the page to finish reading one paragraph and then flip back to read something in another box multiple times, which was extremely irritating. As for the content, the chapter about personality was my favorite, but there are all sorts of fun facts about sleep and memory and other things that go on in our brains daily that most people have no clue is happening. There really isn’t much else to say about it. I’m certain that there are many books out there that have the same information but express it far more clearly, so if you’re looking to learn about psychology, maybe browse a little more before you pick this one up.

Read more of my reviews at http://katelikesbooks.wordpress.com !

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

This book was very good and very educational. Liked that it talked about different areas of psychology without going too much into detail. Not very scary at all. It's good for people who are interested in taking psychology or learning more about it. Would highly recommend for fans of psychology.

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was intrigued by this little book of psychology when I picked it up in a used bookstore. While it offers brief overviews of each of the major areas of psychology (cognitive, personality, behavioral, trauma, sleep, etc.), I found it to be a rather insipid read; it wasn't nearly as exploratory as I would've liked. This is probably because the author tries a bit too hard to make the book as "readable" as possible, and frequently dumbs down the information/research to make the information more palatable to the average reader.

For those looking for a comprehensive, well-rounded presentation of the multiple areas of psychology, this is probably not the book for you. However, if you're interested in some light reading that briefly touches on multiple areas of psychological study, you might enjoy this one.

[Catalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just started this one, and loving it as well. It is a clever way to introduce the complexity of psychology to an average person like me. Interesting and very easy to follow, and so far i love finding out all the tricky things our brain does to interpret the world around us. I also have the companion book "This book has feelings" which I will tackle next.

[Lyndsay-ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love learning more about psychology and there was a lot to learn in this book. It covered a variety of different topics, and many different aspects of that topic. The most interesting parts were the pages on applying some of the information in your daily life, such as sleeping and dream recolection, and little quizes.

Was a great book to read.

[SOVEYM · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has some interesting information in regards to psychology. I'm a social psychology major so some of the information was an extension to what I've already learned and some of it was new and interesting. Other than that it was pretty dry and boring.

[Joannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my book....

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction. Short and clear chapters

[MuuLee · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good book, i felt like it is a light summary of what i learned in my university regarding psychology related studies

[Tam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative for anyone who wants to learn more about Psychology aspecially the basics. Also the little excercies are a fun bonus. Only down side is; The colour some of the texts are written in are sometimes too overpowering that it makes it harder for the reader to properly read the texts. But overall it's a great book for anyone who wants to learn more about the subject. I would totally recommend this book to anyone who is willing to learn about Psychology and it's basics.

[Hannah Emerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was good and informative, I don’t know if I’ll remember anything from it lol, I guess it’s more so a book I’d be assigned to read in high school or college, but I read it for pleasure because I’m interested in psychology. I was hoping there would be more research projects / studies cited as I love those! There were a few spelling errors which was weird. I also didn’t like the several pages with dark text against a dark background, like what the heck?!

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is really meant for people who don’t know about psychology at all. I like that it’s clearly explained, but there’s a lot of subjects talked about that seem common knowledge even outside the psychology sector. It did contain great condiments to it though, I would recommend it to someone wanting to get into psychology.

[Kellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable overview/refresher on core psych topics, but definitely not comprehensive. My one complaint is that the type is set in a very thin stroke weight making the text extremely difficult to read.

[Kathrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5/5
Sehr informativ, abwechslungsreich und anschaulich. Besonders die Tipps und Selbsttest waren super. Leider sind ein paar Rechtschreibfehler durchgerutscht, was bei einem seriösen Sachbuch nicht passieren sollte.

[Lina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Отлично графически оформление, което за съжаление е и най-силната страна на книгата. Обяснени са по-семпъл начин доста интересни неща, но според мен наука като психологията има много какво да предложи, дори и за начинаещи.

[Sophie Doolan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt it was an interesting read for people with little to no knowledge of the brain and mind, but can feel like it is talking down to you. Also for something written in 2017, some of the information and terms are very outdated and can be seen as insulting.

[Evdoxia Renta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Judging by the cover and the title, I was expecting to read something else.

[Lily Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, detailed and straightforward. I read it in a siting.

[Lydia Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book! Found it interesting and easy to understand for someone who isn't studying psychology. However it is very condensed and so I'm unluckily to read again.

[ToniAndonova · Rating 2 out of 5]

Честно казано, разочарована съм. Очаквах доста повече от книгата предвид темите,които засяга, и учените, които споменава като източници.

[Iza S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very basic overview of Psychology. 50% of book is text while rest are images or colorful boxes. It's an easy read, maybe too easy.

[Ния Йотова · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some v tasty morsels in it. Interesting food for thought. One of the more interesting ones is the finding that conservative people tend to respond to 'disgust' more than non-conservative people (as determined by brain scans). Also had practical exercises on how you can implant false memories in your friends!

Each double-page is a new topic, so it's an easy pick up, put down book. The 2nd half of the book was a lot more wishy-washy for me.

[Jessika جيسيكا Valentine ملو فالنتاين · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book discusses a lot of the interesting "adventures" in psychology without tapping too deep into them. The idea I believe is to provide a certain type pf dictionary for psychology. The tests that the author provided were more like adding a fun portion but can also act as an application to the theoretical explanation.
I feel that this book though having issues of its own has great potential. It could be a reference for people who are interested in general knowledge about psychology.

[Kristina Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book taught me a lot about myself. My psychological conflicts, how to study, how to calm myself in stressful situations, and the truths about disorders and how prevalent they truly are. It took a while to read because I wanted to digest all that it withheld but it turned out to be worth every minute of my time!

[Schylur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely interesting read. Many references to case studies and experiments helped explain ideas in a way that are easy to understand for anyone wanting to learn surface-level psychology in a quick and simple read.

Some blocks of text, for example, a blue background with black text, made it a bit of a strain to read.

[em · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book as a pretty easy to read guide into the basics of Psychology.
I’m starting a new course in a few weeks and i wanted to get a head start on the basics and this book gave me knowledge, fun exercises and experiments.
It doesn’t go into too much detail and sometimes left me wanting to know more about a topic so i would suggest further reading afterwards.
The layout is cute too.

[BLACK CAT · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book dedicated to highlight the flaws of the mind, from the social animal to the perception of the senses. The book also has mini bios of remarkable neuroscientists, psychiatrists and psychologists.

[Emily Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

the case studies they present are interesting, but this book is not for someone who knows nothing of psychology. I believe the authors intended this for people who at least had a basic background with terminology.

[Elizabeth Best · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading this book a page or so a day, as each theory/idea/study etc is set out nicely one per page spread. It explains each one is a simple way with plenty of examples, pictures and exercises. I would recommend this to people who want a brief overview of psychology.