Psychology: From spirits to psychotherapy, tracing the mind through the ages

by Anne Rooney

From philosophy, psychology and religion to biology, medicine, physics and
mathematics, our How the World Works series presents fundamental areas
of knowledge in the most stimulating, clear and accessible way, with brief
biographies of the key figures involved and wonderful full-colour illustrations.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

Published June 15, 2017

About the author

Anne Rooney gained a degree and then a PhD in medieval literature from Trinity College, Cambridge. After a period of teaching medieval English and French literature at the universities of Cambridge and York, she left to pursue a career as a freelance writer. She has written many books for adults and children on a variety of subjects, including literature and history. She lives in Cambridge and is Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Essex.

Reviews

[Việt Hùng]

The book was really comprehensive and informative with its logical structure and easy-to-digest information. It starts from basic problems of the mind, body, and soul, then moves to the problem of knowledge and self, before putting the self in a society and ends with psychological / mental problems. Each chapter provides insights from scientists and philosophers throughout their schools and time, so the book's coverage is quite large. The book helped me a lot with having a general overview of the subject. But it looks like a handbook more to me, with the writing style being very formal (but not so serious). I would like to hear the author's opinion so that I can also widen my perspectives. Besides, reading books is an opportunity for me to make friends with the authors, so it was pretty hard to "make friends" if there was no trait of their existence in the book ("Who am I? And if so, how many?" by Richard Precht might be a good example for this type of book in the philosophy and psychology field). Neverthess, I find the book very helpful and enjoyed reading it from the start to the end.

[Arvenig]

Hi everyone!
This book is so interesting! It's about how psychology developed through the ages. It goes from ancient greece and goes through the main authors until the modern days.
I already knew most things about the first parts of the book, but the modern theories and discoveries were so fascinating!
If you like history and psychology I definitely recommend this book to you!

[Amelia Chesney]

Decided to read before starting a Psychology course next week, and I can say it gave me a considerable insight into the field which I hope will be helpful

[Susana]

A good book for a middle school class room or holiday reading. Informative and engaging as introductory knowledge on the subject.

[Laurence]

Easy to get in to book, separate and well written short stories and experiments from psychology history. Great if you want to learn some things but don't have any foundations to go off.

[Mark Green]

Interesting history of Psychology which filled in a few gaps. It does seem that it's a lot less of a science than i thought. Good read though.

[Izzy]

Incredibly informative but also immediately accessible!!

[SundayAtDusk]

In college, I excitedly took my first psychology class. I never took another one. The field wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. In other college classes, however, I read and was impressed by the works of psychologists like Rollo May and Abraham Maslow. In addition, after college, I read books by and about various psychiatrists--Frankl, Jung, Adler and Freud. (Although my Freud reading was limited. While on one hand, he and his beliefs seemed so fascinating at times; on the other hand, he and his beliefs seemed so nutty at times, plus misogynistic.)

This book, which is a general look at the field, left me skimming a lot. It covers too much in a limited way. Of course, that can encourage more research, but I would only recommend it to those needing a psychology primer. I might also suggest living and interacting with others is the best teacher for learning what makes us all tick, not studying psychology. (Having some nutty relatives and friends helps a lot.) Three stars for a neutral rating since I skimmed so much.

(Note: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher.)

[Ethan]

I read this before starting my undergraduate major in psychology. I felt like this book helped give a foundational start for the subject, but I don't imagine it would be helpful for those who already are knowledgeable about psychology

[Debbie De steno]

I thought it was very interesting. A quick study and concise