In a 2007 article for *Teaching of Psychology *on "Teaching Psychological Science through Writing" I offered a few of my favorite trade books, as of 2006. (Excuse any typos from the OCR scanning of the pdf article, which I'd be glad to send anyone.)
Dave Myers www.davidmyers.org www.hearingloop.org Trade Books Sometimes we have an urge to say more than magazine articles will allow. That has been the experience of our colleagues who have written successful and influential general audience "trade" books. Like many readers of this journal, I have relished and felt pride in books by psychological scientists such as Robert Cialdini, Thomas Gilovich, Judith Rich Harris, Irving Janis, Elizabeth Loftus, Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, James Pennebaker, Steven Pinker, Daniel Schacter, Martin Seligman, Carol Tavris, Daniel Wegner, Timothy Wilson, and Phillip Zimbardo. Now our field has been blessed with four successful new trade books, each of which is giving psychology away to large audiences. Schwartz's (2004) *The Paradox of Choice, *which has been massively covered in various media, applies psy~ chological science in explaining why today's world ironically offers us more choice and less satisfaction. Twenge's (2006) *Generation *Me masterfully draws on research and popular culture in depicting the rise of epidemic narcissism, illusory optimism, and anxiety among today's younger Americans. In *The Happiness* *Hypothesis, *Haidt (2006) pointed to a more meaningful, moral, and happy life by interweaving ancient wisdom and modem science. Gilbert’s (2006) *Stumbling* on *Happiness *gives readers a rollicking tour of the new research on people's inability to predict their own happiness. In addition also to Seligman's (2002) *Authentic* *Happiness *and Lykken's (1999) *Happiness, *there arc two more happiness books to come. Emmons (2007) authored *Thanks! How the New *Science *of Gratitude* *Can Make You Happier. *Diener and Biswas-Diener (in press) wrote *Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of * *Psychological Wealth, *the title of their forthcoming report of well-being research. Lest anyone think that positive psychology has com- pletely taken over the discipline, the happiness trade books are balanced by psychologist-authored "evil" trade books. Waller's (2002) powerful *Becoming *Evil. will soon appear in a second edition. Shermer (2004) offered *The Science af Good *and Evil, Baumeister (1997) contributed *Evil: Inside Human Cruelty *and *Violence,* Zimbardo (2007) has authored *The Lucifer Effect: *Un~ *derstanding How *Good *People *Turn Evil, and Tavris and Aronson (2007) coauthored Mistakes *Were Made (But* *Not by *Me). --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
