The Self

by Jonathan D. Brown

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness, in my opinion: it's very pedagogical, in the sense that it's clearly designed for class-takers to earn high grades on recall-oriented exams. As a result, the presentation, while clear and well-cited, is dry and conventional—it's a synthesis of research, packaged in a digestible way. I've learned quite a bit, but I'm also disappointed, as the author skims many important topics and surveys theories in a way that makes them seem like simplistic toy models rather than the products of intense cognition by experienced, intelligent professionals. I read The Self because of my own struggles with identity, and I can at least say that I got some closure from reading this, but there's only so much spiritual fulfillment or self-cultivation that a purely academic text can spark. Really, this book is just missing the magic that makes top-tier popular science books shine, that magic being passion and wonder conveyed with lively prose and non-academic personality flair. I'd recommend this to anyone with a formal interest in self-psychology, but not to anyone else without the aforementioned caveats.

[Alyssa Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brown presents different theories of the self in an approachable way that makes psychology intimate to even the most foreign of readers; plus, Brown integrates findings with his own analyses and hypotheses, providing a much-needed human lens to the social sciences that pushes the reader to apply his conclusions to our own lives and be critical about our Selves.