LC: neuroscience and psychology reading list

[LooseCaller]

i have had a difficult time searching around amazon for good pop science books on the brain or interesting developments in psychology. im assuming that a decent number of the active posters in this forum have a few recommendations, so could you please be so kind as to post a few ones worth reading. thanks. sorry for the low content.

[bunny]

How The Mind Works by Stephen Pinker (I think). There are some good critiques of his work around as well (although the titles escape me).

[Taraz]

Is there anything specific that you're looking for?

I've heard Dan Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness is pretty good.

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell is also a fun read, but it's more pop psychology than pop neuroscience.

[luckyme]

The Feeling of What Happens. Damasio.
Phantoms in the Brain. Ramachandran.
How the Mind Works. Pinker.

3 different yet complimentary ones.

luckyme

[aeest400]

I have some issues with Pinker, but it's not a bad place to start.

[luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
I have some issues with Pinker, but it's not a bad place to start.

[/ QUOTE ]

Who wouldn't? Gives a good laymans grounding in the Evolutionary Psychology approach though.

luckyme

[aeest400]

Yes, tepid as my recommendation sounds, it's a good place to start. He's readable, doesn't dumb down too much and will cite most of the relevant literature. If OP asked for something more specific, like on language or intelligence, I'd probably suggest someone else. Amazon rankings are probably the best bet though.

[Rduke55]

Two books I keep recommending to people are "Principles of Brain Evolution" by Striedter and "Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach" by Alcock.
While both could be considered textbooks they are very readable and entertaining.

For more "pop" I liked "Grooming, Gossip, and the evolution of Language" by Dunbar. It's short and you should finish it in no time. Less detailed and more easily read than other recommendations but he touches on some important points.