36 Best Psychology Books to Illuminate What Really Drives You

OVERVIEW: A detailed review of the best psychology books for beginners, intermediate, and advanced readers. (Recently expanded to 36 titles.)

______________

It has been said that there are three main ways to learn about human psychology:

  1. Read Greek mythology
  2. Read Carl Jung
  3. Observe others

Of these three ways, observing others is the most powerful, but reading about the psyche helps inform our observations.

Why Read Psychology Books?

There are at least three significant reasons to learn about psychology:

  1. Understand yourself and your motivations.
  2. Learn about and understand other people.
  3. Change a behavior or feeling.

In my exploration, I’ve read many psychology books—well over 300 of them.

These books covered fields including:

  • Depth psychology
  • Humanistic psychology
  • Developmental psychology
  • Social psychology
  • Behavioral psychology
  • Cognitive psychology
  • Positive psychology
  • Ego psychology
  • Transpersonal psychology

If you’re reading this, you’re probably interested in better understanding yourself and what drives your behavior too.

Why do we do what we do?

How to Select the Best Psychology Books

This is a challenging task because we’re all at different levels of development. The “best psychology book” for one person will certainly be different for another.

So to curate this list of the best psychology books, I’ve broken them into three main categories:

  1. Best Psychology Books for Beginners
  2. Best Psychology Books on Human Behavior
  3. Best Psychology Books for Depth (Advanced)

At the end of the list, I’ve also included a brief fourth section for the best psychology books from Eastern philosophy.

We’ll start with the beginner’s list and the one on human behavior as the majority of readers will likely be more interested in these categories.

Then, I’ll provide my picks for the best psychology books that are more likely to be “outside the mainstream.”

_________________

I realize a lot of people prefer listening to books instead of reading them. If you’re not already an Audible customer, you can start a free 30-day trial and get one free audiobook.

_________________

Best Psychology Books for Beginners

Note: The psychology books in each category are not listed in any particular order.

1) Mindset
by Carol Dweck

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Dweck’s modern classic is both sobering and enlightening. Her multi-decade psychological study on mindsets reveals how important it is to understand the true nature of our development as well as how learning works. Mindset is sobering because it exposes how parents and teachers have been unknowingly installing a highly limiting fixed mindset in children for many generations. And the societal effects are showing. If you’re a parent, consider this book mandatory reading. But really, everyone should read it because we’re all influenced, to varying degrees, by a fixed mindset that hijacks us from realizing the greater potential within us.

best psychology books for beginners

2) Authentic Happiness
by Martin Seligman

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Seligman is considered the father of the positive psychology movement. What I appreciate most about Authentic Happiness is that Seligman provides practical methods for increasing one’s level of happiness based on decades of research in the field. Seligman demonstrates that lasting fulfillment is found not in fleeting pleasures but in cultivating our natural strengths. Perhaps you’ve heard about the research on the benefits of maintaining a gratitude journal. This book is one of the first I’m aware of that highlighted this research.

3) The Wisdom of Insecurity
by Alan W. Watts

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Is insecurity the consequence of trying to be secure? That’s the premise behind philosopher Alan Watts’s classic treatise. If you’re a student of Eastern philosophy, you’re probably already familiar with Watts. He possessed a tremendous skill for communicating Eastern ideas to a Western audience. The Wisdom of Insecurity highlights why consumerism will never provide meaning or purpose to our lives. Then, the book explores what will.

mans search for meaning best psychology book

4) Man’s Search for Meaning
by Viktor E. Frankl

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

I can’t imagine a list of the best psychology books not including Frankl’s classic. I first read Man’s Search for Meaning in my early 20s. But it didn’t mean anything to me until I read it again in my mid-30s. Frankl’s observations as a captive in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II are instructive for every human being. All readers will likely gain a new perspective on their lives and what drives them after reading this book.

best psychology books for beginners

5) The Paradox of Choice 
by Barry Schwartz

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Simply put, having too many choices can lead to anxiety and depression—especially when we try to maximize our choices. I still remember the effect this book had on me when I read it in 2014. My awareness and attitude toward “shopping” changed measurably after reading The Paradox of Choice. Are you a “satisficer” or a “maximizer”? The latter comes with a lot of self-imposed suffering.

best psychology books for beginners

6) Emotional Intelligence 
by Daniel Goleman

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

It’s difficult to appreciate how important Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence was when it was first published in 1995. The paradigm of intelligence as a singular concept based on IQ was considered fact. However, the work of developmental researchers like Howard Gardner began exposing us to the fact that we have multiple intelligences (at least nine of them). Goleman featured emotional intelligence in this classic and social intelligence in a follow-up.

best psychology books

7) Personality Types 
by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Working in the coaching field for two and half decades, I explored most, if not all, of the psychological assessments on the market (Myers-Briggs, DISC, Human Design Engineering, etc.). From my experience, the Enneagram is the most robust and functional personality model. To appreciate the depth and robustness of this personality system, read Personality Types. The nine levels of each type illustrate a path for healthy personality development, which is a key differentiating factor between this system from other models. If you’re completely new to this psychological system, however, The Wisdom of the Enneagram is perhaps the most practical and accessible. The Enneagram by Helen Palmer is also an excellent primer.

8) The Farther Reaches of Human Nature
by Abraham Maslow

Paperback | Audio

Maslow is considered the father of humanistic psychology (the “third wave” of psychology). While most researchers were studying mental illness, Maslow focused on positive mental health. Although all of Maslow’s writings are interesting, I’ve selected The Farther Reaches of Human Nature for this list. The Farther Reaches was published posthumously. In my opinion, the book is very accessible and it includes some of Maslow’s best ideas on the importance of creativity in positive mental health.

9) Flow
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Part of Maslow’s study of self-actualizing individuals was his observations on what he called peak experiences. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi picked up where Maslow left off, providing a detailed analysis of what he termed flow. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience is now considered a classic in the psychological literature.

Best Psychology Books on Human Behavior

Now let’s look at some of the best psychology books on human behavior.

best psychology books berne

10) Games People Play 
by Eric Berne

Paperback | Kindle | Audible

Berne’s classic from the 60s is still highly relevant today. Transactional analysis examines human behavior through a social lens. Berne highlights that in social relationships, individuals embody one of three different expressions of the ego: the adult, the parent, and the child. The adult is rational; the parent is critical and nurturing; the child is dependent and intuitive. All three expressions are in each of us and different social situations trigger different ones and in specific combinations. Games People Play is a fascinating read if you’re interested in social dynamics and if you want to become more conscious of your behavior.

best psychology books on human behavior

11) The True Believer
by Eric Hoffer

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

If you’re going to read one book on cult psychology and mass movements, The True Believer is it. The psychology of cults influences so much of society and culture as it plays to a host of unconscious mechanisms within the psyche. Whether we’re talking about organized religions, mass social movements, cult brands like Harley-Davidson, or destructive cults, the same psychology applies.

best psychology books on human behavior

12) The Willpower Instinct
by Kelly McGonigal

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

McGonigal taught the most popular course at Stanford University’s Continuing Studies program called “The Science of Willpower.” The Willpower Instinct is essentially that course distilled into a single book. It’s full of compelling research to support its insights. But more importantly, the book provides a litany of exercises and practices to cultivate a stronger will. (See my guide on How to Make Positive Changes.)

best business book power of habit

13) The Power of Habit 
By Charles Duhigg

Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook

The Power of Habit is another important read on the topic of behavioral change. Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit is more popular and entertaining than The Willpower Instinct. However, if I had to recommend one book on the topic of habit and self-control, The Willpower Instinct has the edge because of the structure and practical methods McGonigal outlines in her book.

best psychology books on human behavior

14) Drive 
By Daniel Pink

Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook

Through engaging research and storytelling, Pink draws on lessons from self-determination theory to illuminate what drives us—especially in the context of our work. Here’s a three-second summary: the answer is purpose, autonomy, and mastery. It’s a very accessible read. Pink’s Drive shows why “carrot and stick” motivation doesn’t work and how money is certainly not the primary driver of motivation.

best psychology books

15) The Lucifer Effect 
by Philip Zimbardo

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Psychology professor Philip Zimbardo’s famed Stanford prison experiment and other related studies reveal the “lesser angels of human nature.”  I don’t think you can begin to understand human behavior (and the nature of the psyche) without carefully studying what we call “evil.” You can get a “Cliff’s Note” version of The Lucifer Effect in Zimbardo’s TED Talk on the psychology of evil.

Traveling Deeper into the Psyche

Cognitive psychology and social psychology are what’s popular in the field right now.

Even though psychology is considered a “soft science,” through cognitive psychology, social psychology, and neuropsychology, clinical researchers, social scientists, and neuroscientists are attempting to codify the human mind.

In my opinion, this is problematic because the experimenters and researchers themselves are mostly unconscious of their behaviors and impulses that they are attempting to observe in their sample groups.

Plus, unconscious biases influence us in profound ways (see Thinking Fast and Slow below).

Although this work is important and interesting, in my opinion, it fails to get to the core of why we do what we do. Without realizing it, it’s examining effects, not causes.

So if we’re interested in learning about what’s going on inside us, we need to dig deeper.

Selecting the Best Psychology Books for Depth

From my perspective, the best psychology books address the unconscious and the nature of the psyche itself.

The challenge will exploring the unconscious is that it’s dark, chaotic, messy, and sometimes irrational (from the perspective of our conscious minds).

In exploring the unconscious realm, we enter the world of symbols, images, myths, dreams, and fairy tales.

In curating my picks for the best psychology books, I tried to select depth psychology books that I believe are the most accessible.

The Best Psychology Books (for Real Depth)

We’ll start with two more recent titles that are highly relevant to the works listed below. Keep in mind that all of these books address human behavior as well—but on a deeper level.

best books on psychology

16) The Body Keeps the Score 
by Bessel Van Der Kolk

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Simply put, The Body Keeps the Score is an important book that everyone should read. It highlights the fact that trauma is stored in the body (something that’s well-documented in Eastern medicine as well). It’s our dissociation from early childhood trauma that causes most of our suffering and mental illnesses in adulthood. This book complements a great deal of the material we cover on this website.

Note: Physician John E. Sarno arrived at similar insights. His body of work illustrates how repressed emotions (especially rage) are the cause of virtually all chronic pain and disease. See, for example, The Mindbody Prescription and The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders.

17) Thinking, Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Kahnman’s book has become a modern classic—and for good reason. This Nobel laureate in economics explains how our behavior is guided by two different systems in our minds: one system is conscious and aware while the other is automatic and impulsive. In many ways, Kahneman’s research provides “scientific evidence” of the unconscious as described in depth psychology.

best psychology books Jung

18) Memories, Dreams, Reflections
by C.G. Jung

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Selecting a single book from Carl Jung’s collected works as the “best psychology book” would be challenging. If I were going to suggest one book for someone new to depth psychology, it would be Jung’s autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. It provides a closer examination of Jung’s life and how he arrived at many of his classic insights. Another highly accessible book from Jung is Man and His Symbols. That title could easily make the list as well. Joseph Campbell also curated an excellent collection of excerpts from Jung’s collected works in The Portable Jung.

best books on psychology campbell

19) The Power of Myth
by Joseph Campbell

Paperback | Kindle | Audio | DVD | Stream

I can’t imagine a list of the best psychology books without at least one title by famed mythologist Joseph Campbell. Although Campbell wasn’t technically a “Jungian,” he was highly influenced by Jung’s work. As Campbell explains, at its deepest level, mythology is the study of the psyche.

In Flight of the Wild Gander, Campbell explained, “Mythology is psychology, misread as cosmology, history, and biography.”The Power of Myth is the transcript of an extensive PBS interview Campbell did with Bill Moyers. I would recommend the video version over the book mainly because of the additional visuals in the presentation. Also, if you want to take a masterclass on Eastern and Western psychology, see Campbell’s 3-part lecture series, Mythos. There’s nothing else like it.

johnson best psychology book

20) Owning Your Own Shadow
by Robert Johnson

Paperback | Kindle

This concise 119-page book provides the best explanation of the personal shadow that you can find in print. The shadow represents all the parts of ourselves that we’re unknowingly cut off or divorced from. These disowned parts are what drive most of our behavior outside of our awareness. Many of the ideas in Owning Your Own Shadow inspired my popular guide on shadow work.

best psychology books

21) Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales
by Marie-Louise von Franz

Paperback | Kindle

Marie-Louise von Franz was Jung’s closest student—his protege. An accomplished analyst herself, von Franz focused her attention on exploring the psyche through myths and fairy tales. von Franz did for fairy tales what Joseph Campbell did for myths. Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales provides an enlightening inside look at the shadow.

22) Demian: The Story of a Youth
by Hermann Hesse

Paperback | KindleAudio

Novelist Hermann Hesse should be on anyone’s reading list if they like reading psychology books. Hesse was heavily influenced by Jung’s work; it’s easy to see in virtually all of his classic novels. It’s difficult for me to select just one of Hesse’s books for this list. Siddhartha is probably my personal favorite, but I think Demian better fits this list. Enjoy!

23) The Drama of the Gifted Child 
by Alice Miller

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Anyone who bravely explores the depth of their psyche will come to know their trauma. Alice Miller’s revealing book, The Drama of the Gifted Child, gives context to how this trauma unfolded and how to relate to these experiences in adulthood.

he robert johnson best books in psychology

24) He: Understanding Masculine Psychology
by Robert Johnson

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Every man should read He. In 82 pages, Johnson explains masculine psychology through the mythology of King Arthur and the Grail legend. I’m not sure I would have understood it in my 20s. However, I read this book at least six times in my 30s, and I appreciated it more each time I did. Every woman who wants to understand the masculine psyche will benefit from this book as well.

she robert johnson best books in psychology

25) She: Understanding Feminine Psychology
by Robert Johnson

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

In this concise 80-page treatise, Johnson breaks down feminine psychology through the myths of Psyche, Eros, and Aphrodite. Reading She with He illuminates how the psyche of men and women are fundamentally different. It’s a handy guide for both women and men.

best books on psychology we robert johnson

26) We: Understanding the Psychology of Romantic Love
by Robert Johnson

Paperback | Kindle

How can you even attempt to be in a relationship without reading We? We are all so programmed with ideas about romantic love from stories, films, and the media, that human relating is barely possible. Johnson deconstructs romantic love through the myth of Tristan and Iseult. Johnson’s We is a must-read book for anyone attempting to have a conscious relationship or marriage. Incredibly sobering and instructive.

27) Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
by C.G. Jung

Paperback | Kindle

I suppose if you’re going to read one book from Jung’s collected works, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious is a good place to start. In this collection of papers and essays, Jung begins to flush out his understanding of the primordial images (archetypes) and how they influence human behavior.

best psychology books

28) Individuation in Fairy Tales
by Marie-Louise von Franz

Paperback | Kindle

Although you can get a sense of Jung’s individuation process through his body of work, von Franz’s Individuation in Fairy Tales gives this core Jungian concept more depth and understanding. If fairy tales interest you, you might want to start with her Interpretation in Fairy Tales as a primer. Although not all of von Franz’s works are easy reads, I found them all enlightening and revealing of the psyche’s nature.

best books on psychology inner gold

29) Inner Gold: Understanding Psychological Projection
by Robert Johnson

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

We tend to project the best parts of ourselves onto others. This process occurs unconsciously, so we need to become aware of what we’re doing first before we can take back our projections and own our true power. Inner Gold will show you the way. (I also published a guide on projection based on Inner Gold.)

Marie-Louis von Franz’s Projection and Re-collection in Jungian Psychology is a more advanced follow-up on this topic.

best psychology books KWML

30) King Warrior Magician Lover 
by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette

Paperback | Kindle

If you want to understand human behavior, read this King Warrior Magici Lover (commonly referred to as KWML). KWML is a wild ride into the psyche. You’ll meet the full cast of characters, but the real story in my opinion isn’t about the Big Four mentioned in the title, but their bipolar shadow counterparts. It’s in getting to know and understanding these shadow archetypes that we begin to appreciate the forces that rule most of human behavior. For anyone interested in psychology and human behavior, put KWML on your list.

31) Ego and Archetype
by Edward F. Edinger

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

One of the most discussed topics in Jungian literature is the relationship between the ego and the Self. Edinger’s Ego and Archetype is an important contribution. Edinger reinforces the key idea that individuation is the goal of the psyche. The undeveloped ego requires encounters with the Self (through repeated cycles) to facilitate this developmental process.

32) The Parental Image
by M. Ester Harding

Paperback

Mary Esther Harding is another Jungian with an excellent body of work. Anyone interested in depth psychology and who’s involved in inner work will greatly benefit from her titles. In The Parental Image, Harding uses the Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish to illustrate the unconscious dynamics that play out between parents and their children. After highlighting how we overcome our parents and their consequent injuries, the book focuses on how we heal these injuries through the development of consciousness and the individuation process.

Other classic works by Harding include Psychic Energy, The I and the Not-I, and Way of All Women.

best psychology books

33) How to Be an Adult 
by David Richo

Paperback | Kindle

If you were going to read only one book about psychological development, this one covers the most ground. It truly is a “handbook.” This little book is jam-packed with useful insights and practices. There’s no “fluff,” which is why it covers so much ground in only 120 pages. In How to be an Adult, Richo sets the development of our psychology in the hero’s journey framework, exploring the “challenges” we face in approaching adulthood. These challenges take us into what we tend to resist the most: our grief, fears, anger, and guilt.

Richo’s handbook isn’t something you read once and set aside. You carry it with you, referring back often. Don’t be fooled into believing that adulthood comes naturally with age. If everyone read this book—and lived the practices contained within it—I’m confident we would live in a very different world. But that change starts with each of us.

Best Psychology Books from Eastern Philosophy

In Jung’s foreword to The Spiritual Teachings of Raman Maharshi, he noted how much further ahead Eastern thought was compared to Western psychology.

As far as Western psychology has come in the last 120 years or so, Eastern psychology is still thousands of years older. Meditation in the traditions is a foundational skill one develops to learn about oneself (self-inquiry) and to govern one’s mind and behaviors at a deeper level.

In truth, what we call “Eastern philosophy” is, in many regards, an advanced psychological system based on many centuries of careful examination of the psyche built on practices and methods to stabilize the mind first.

Below are just three titles that are worth reading. We could easily create another list of 30+ best psychology books within this genre.

34) Stopping and Seeing 
by Chih-i

Paperback | Kindle

“Stopping” refers to stopping various mental processes that lead to delusion. “Seeing” refers to seeing truth and deeper levels of reality within oneself. Based on the Chan Buddist tradition, Stopping and Seeing is a classic meditation manual with a range of methods and clear guidance. This instruction manual is translated by Thomas Cleary, who in my experience, generally provides a superior translation.

35) Becoming Your Own Therapist
by Lama Yeshe

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Lama Yeshe’s little book (123 pages) highlights how Buddhist philosophy is really about becoming a psychologist of your mind. I wholeheartedly agree with Yeshe’s assertion. The framework Yeshe highlights can inform the way you approach your personal psychology in the future.

36) Start Where You Are
by Pema Chödrön

Paperback | Kindle | Audio

Start Where You Are is a book about a 300-year-old practice Lojong. This mind-training practice is based on 59 slogans or aphorisms that demonstrate the brilliance of Buddhist psychology. And Pema Chödrön, a Western Buddhist teacher, does a beautiful job explaining the meaning behind these aphorisms.

Read Next

A Complete Master List of Virtues

The Ultimate List of Over 325 Archetypes

Individuation: A Beginner’s Guide to Jungian Psychology

>