Psychology

Got me through my class

I've gone through a lot of textbooks in my college career, and they vary from being completely inane to be so dense it is nearly impossible to plow through them. David Myers does a great job of taking on a quite challenging topic and parsing it out in a way that is both understandable and not dumbed down.He tackles the material step by step, providing the building blocks first, getting into issues of anatomy, then launching out into more complex topics such as dreams, memory, and stress. I found each chapter quite fascinating and well covered. This isn't a book to zip through. It's one to sit down with, really study the chapter, and then give yourself time to absorb it. As he indicates in his chapter on learning, this process is one that helps the brain best absorb the details.Generally I found the graphs and charts to be helpful, and the overall layout to help get the message home. However, I found the incessant use of cartoons to be REALLY distracting. I really don't need to have cute cartoons on every single page - and, I kid you not - there are pages with TWO cartoons on them because clearly one wasn't enough.Woman on phone: "Thank you for calling the Psychic Hotline. How can I help you?"Man on phone: "You tell me ..."Ha ha ha. This is in a chapter on "Sensation and Perception". I really didn't need that cartoon to help me learn the information, and if anything it distracts me from my task at hand.Still, the book provides a great wealth of fascinating information. I'll knock a star off for those annoying cartoons, and maybe they can be mitigated somewhat in future editions.

If you asked me if I was interested in Psychology before taking this class/reading this book, I would have said "NO!" I was a biology major during my undergrad and somehow got by without taking a Psych class. I didn't think it was a real science. Well, I just finished an on-line course using this book. The majority of the class was the book. Now, I wish I majored in Psychology. It was fascinating! In fact, I found myself reading it out loud to my husband. I loved the little psych test, ie. what do you see in this picture, can you draw two different figures with your two different hands, which face looks female/male, etc. The author peppered every lesson with real life examples which made it come to life. Also, it was organized in a way which was easy to understand. Finally, every section would end with a question to test if the student learned/understood the material. In one word: fantastic!

It was a dark cold night when I realized my college book store would not be restocking my psych book any time soon. The thought of doing well in my Psychology class was fading away without the textbook near me. When all hope seemed lost, a brilliant idea popped right into my head: Amazon. A glimmer of light shone through the darkness of my impending failure as I ordered online that purple and lime green book of all books. It shone even brighter the day it was in my hands, three quick days later. My opinion is that I love Amazon, more then I could ever love a puppy or baby elephant, for getting me a psych book lickety-split.

Yeah... So. Apparently, I am a sociopath, and so is her dad. Oh, and her brother is a narcissist. And she is totally normal. :DGreat book for budding 16-year-old psychologists everywhere. Give them the gift of self-analysis. Go on, do it! I guess it's better than those popular online self-psych tests? Mmm Hmm...