“Nicky Hayes has written an engaging, comprehensive, and consummately readable history of the field of psychology as a science. Even those familiar with the field will gain new insights by reading this book. The book is such a wonderful contrast to the usual history of psychology, which can be so dry, dull, and hard to get through. I recommend the book enthusiastically to anyone who seeks an appealing and delightful introduction to the field.”—Robert Sternberg, Professor of Psychology, Cornell University
“In lively prose, Nicky Hayes presents the principal ideas, findings, controversies, and personalities in the field of psychology.”—Howard Gardner, author of Five Minds for the Future
“Nicky Hayes guides readers through the fascinating history of psychology in this engaging account of the dynamic tug-of-war between science and culture that has historically animated the discipline of psychology.”—Erika Dyck, author of Psychedelic Psychiatry
"This enchanting and insightful little history is a must-read for anyone with an interest in psychology. Hayes is a sure-footed, humane and knowledgeable guide, covering numerous key psychological concepts on the way. They include attitudes, attachment, and antipsychiatry; control, cognition, and confirmation bias; intelligence, identity and individualism; psychoanalysis, psychometrics, and perception; as well as social learning, stress and serotonin. As we learn about behaviourism, cognitivism, developmentalism, gestalt, humanism, and social and positive psychology, we meet famous as well as lesser known contributors to the field – Descartes and Darwin, Freud and Fanon, Pavlov and Piaget, and Szasz and Seligman.”—Anna Katharina Schaffner, author of The Art of Self-Improvement
