Mind, Consciousness & Thinking Books

What if free will is an illusion? As Robert Sapolsky shows in this masterful account of the science of human behaviour, everything we think and do is caused by the luck of our biology and the influence of our environment, and ulti…

We are constantly told to make the most of every precious moment - but when we let our brains rest and our minds wander, something magical happens... 'A tonic for the frazzled mind' David Robson, author of The Expectation EffectIn…

If you think the world is coming to an end, think again: people are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier lives, and while our problems are formidable, the solutions lie in the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and scienc…

An urgent examination of the great wave of change breaking over today’s world – from the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and New York Times bestselling author of The Death of Truth. In the twenty-first century, a wave of political, …

We all keep secrets. 97 per cent of us are hiding a secret right now, and on average we each hold thirteen at any one time. There’s a one-in-two chance that those secrets involve a breach of trust, a lie or a financial impropriety…

'Dazzling... Pinker's big idea is that language is an instinct...as innate to us as flying is to geese... Words can hardly do justice to the superlative range and liveliness of Pinker's investigations'- Independent'A marvellously …

Fake news. Alternative facts. Conspiracy theories.Misinformation is one of the defining problems of our age, and despite what we may think, we are all susceptible. So how and why does misinformation spread? And, more importantly, …

A noted neurologist challenges the widespread misunderstanding of brain disease and mental illness.How the Brain Lost Its Mind tells the rich and compelling story of two confounding ailments, syphilis and hysteria, and the extraor…

Playing on the phrase "a theory of everything" in physics, Michael Muthukrishna offers a unified theory of human behavior, culture, and society - a theory of everyone. Drawing on the most recent research across the sciences, human…

Talking to each other is a primal behaviour.It’s a key part of what makes us human. Yet the science of human connection has largely remained a mystery. Only recently have scientific advances allowed us to peer into the purpose of …

How have our emotions shaped the course of human history? And how have our experience and understanding of emotions evolved with us? We humans like to think of ourselves as rational creatures, who, as a species, have relied on cal…

One of the most influential books of the 21st century: the ground-breaking psychology classic - over 10 million copies sold - that changed the way we think about thinking. Why do we make the decisions we do? Nobel Prize winner Dan…

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'If you read just one book about how the modern world is driving us crazy, read this one' TELEGRAPH 'This book is exactly what the world needs right now' OPRAH WINFREY 'A beautifully researched and argue…

Shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2020 In the early 1970s, Stanford professor Dr Rosenhan conducted an experiment, sending sane patients into psychiatric wards; the result of which was a damni…

In this brilliant and original book, Malcolm Gladwell explains and analyses the 'tipping point', that magic moment when ideas, trends and social behaviour cross a threshold, tip and spread like wildfire. Taking a look behind the s…

How has the way we spend our time changed over the last fifty years? Are we really working more, sleeping less and addicted to our phones? What does this mean for our health, wealth and happiness? Everything we do happens in time …

'Subtle and self-reflexive. . .an excellent overview of the debates and issues that have shaped this hugely influential social science' - GuardianHow does anthropology help us understand who we are?What can it tell us about cultur…

WHO IS THE DEVIL YOU KNOW? Is it your lying, cheating ex-husband? Your sadistic high school gym teacher? Your boss who loves to humiliate people in meetings? The colleague who stole your idea and passed it off as her own? In the …

Do you identify yourself by your profession or achievements, rather than your family network? Do you cultivate your unique attributes and goals? If so, perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industri…

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**So many of us believe that we are free to shape our own destiny. But what if free will doesn't exist? What if our lives are largely predetermined, hardwired in our brains - and our choices over what …

'Seeing Voices is both a history of the deaf and an account of the development of an extraordinary and expressive language' - Evening Standard Imaginative and insightful, Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks offers a way into a world th…

How does the brain perceive and interpret information from the eye? And what happens when the process is disrupted?In The Mind’s Eye, Oliver Sacks tells the stories of people who are able to navigate the world and communicate with…

As with his previous bestseller, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, in An Anthropologist on Mars Oliver Sacks uses case studies to illustrate the myriad ways in which neurological conditions can affect our sense of self, our …

This book will explain what madness is, to show that it can be understood in psychological terms, and that by studying it we can learn important insights about the normal mind. The book will argue that traditional approaches to ma…

In his most extraordinary book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks recounts the stories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders. These are case studies of people wh…

What if society wasn't fundamentally rational, but was motivated by insanity? This thought sets Jon Ronson on an utterly compelling adventure into the world of madness. Along the way, Jon meets psychopaths, those whose lives have …

'Destined to become a popular and important book' Jon Ronson'Fascinating' Sunday TimesIn the early 1970s, Stanford professor Dr Rosenhan conducted an experiment, sending sane patients into psychiatric wards; the result of which wa…

In this ground-breaking and compelling book, Nicholas Carr argues that not since Gutenberg invented printing has humanity been exposed to such a mind-altering technology. The Shallows draws on the latest research to show that the …

The bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics takes us on an enchanting, consoling journey to discover the meaning of time'We are time. We are this space, this clearing opened by the traces of memory inside the connecti…

The No.1 New York Times Bestseller. Could psychedelic drugs change our worldview? Join Michael Pollan on a journey to the frontiers of the human mind. Diving deep into an extraordinary world - from shamans and magic mushroom hunts…