Psychology Archive

“Three Women” presents women with problems they can’t fix; they’re victims. Esther Perel offers actual wisdom. It’s just possible she can help. - The more I think about Three Women, the more puzzled I am by the uncritical enthusiasm for it. The women are clearly victims. One is married to a man who

An Intimate Interview: Beneath the Surface of Bruce Springsteen - After a year on Broadway, the Bruce Springsteen evenings have come to an end. It’s an amazing show --- I saw it in January and reviewed it here -- and

Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes - When I knew I was going to be writing about her book, I sent a Facebook message to Therese Borchard.  “Review on the way,” I told her. “Don’t kill yourself

Buck Brannaman, the Horse Whisperer - Buck Brannaman specializes in the improbable. Got a skittish, poorly trained horse? A bucking bronco? A steed who seems not to care about anything? When an owner brings that uncooperative

Childism: Confronting Prejudice Against Children - I thought I was doing a dead writer and her friend a favor. Some favor.   Elisabeth Young-Bruehl --- a psychoanalyst and biographer of Hannah Arendt and Anna Freud --- had,

Eric Hoffer: The True Believer - “The True Believer” is short: just 168 pages. Eric Hoffer believed in short. Anything that needs to be said, he believed, could be said in 200 words. He might explain

Esther Perel - SUPPORTING BUTLER: You can become a patron of this site, and automatically donate any amount you please — starting with $1 — each month. The service that enables this is

Esther Perel: Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence - Esther Perel gave a TED Talk on Valentine's Day: "The secret to desire in a long-term relationship." Two weeks later, 830,000 people had viewed it. Now she's up to 21 million ---

Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes!) to Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everything in Between - I asked the 7.5-year-old, “Do you know the meaning of life?” “Sure,” she said, giving me that Oh, Daddy look. “It’s obvious. Nobody knows. And then you die.”   Which pretty much nails

Stumbling on Happiness - I was nearing the thrilling conclusion of  “Stumbling on Happiness” when I came across a sentence so brilliant, so subtle, so genuinely funny that I had the experience readers crave

Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy - "Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.” - E.B. White Robert H. Frank is the HJ Louis Professor of Management and Professor of Economics at

The Drama of the Gifted Child - "The Drama of the Gifted Child" was published in 1979. My friends and I got to it around 1983. I recall several lively conversations about it. In memory, one thing

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are - My mother never said, “But what about the extra point questions?” She didn’t have to. School was my way out of our split-level, middle class condition, and that meant fantastic

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are - I'm closing in on THE END of a novel. It's set in the present, but it draws on ancient wisdom. As is my custom, I've read all the classic texts.