A book review of Cognitive Science by José Luis Bermúdez — I’ve become increasingly fascinated by cognitive science, largely influenced by John Vervaeke. I wanted to pick up a textbook about it so I could get an introduction, and among the reputable ones, this was the shortest. When I first opened it I was a bit baffled. Crazy complex graphs that…

A book review of “Introducing Lacan” by Darian Leader — I discovered Lacan quite late. I’ve seen him referenced in quite a few places, but his work seemed impenetrable, so I never bothered to read anything about him. …

A book review of Aion — Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self — Aion is one of Jung’s central books and focuses on the concept of the Self. Some other Jungian themes like the ego, shadow and anima/animus are also mentioned. …

A book review of Atomic Habits by James Clear — Atom Habits is a marvellous book and greatly exceeded my expectations. The book starts with an introduction to the basics of habits the compounding effect of small actions, their role in your identity, and the process of building better habits. One of the main themes of the book is that…

A book review of How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Barrett — In “How Emotions Are Made”, Lisa Feldman argues for a theory of constructed emotion, where emotion isn’t about biological circuits per se (what she calls the classical view), but they’re concepts that rely on culture and upbringing. This opposition is based on some evidence that Lisa explains at the beginning…

From the Axial Age to the Moral Revolution (Book Review) — Between 800 and 200 BC, there was a change in almost every major civilization on the planet, forever changing societies, and giving birth to the modern man. From Zarathustra in Persia to Buddha in India, Confucius and Lao-Tse in China, the prophets in Israel, King Numa in Rome, and much…

A book review about the emotional foundations of personality — I’ve always been interested in what drives human behaviour, and it becomes increasingly evident that personality is a big contributor to how human beings and animals perceive and act in the world. This is in large part what got me interested in psychology. It’s clear that personality has an evolutionary…

Both the title and subtitle couldn’t be more perfect. In this book, Pinker gives a very comprehensive overview of the modern denial of human nature, and how the view of the blank slate is quite simply wrong. …

I am very impressed by this book. Given that it’s series by Cambridge and one of the leading scientists on intelligence, I had high hopes, but it managed to surpass it. From the get-go what I loved the most was the fact that the author clearly admitted his bias towards…