My Top-10

In an otherwise forgettable biography of Freud, I read that European intellectuals thought Top-10 Lists were “vulgar, predictable, and American.”  Who am I to argue? In no particular order, here’s my vulgar, predictable, and American Top-10 List: the ten books that, through the years, most influenced and guided my thinking.

1.      The Growth of Biological Thought, by Ernst Mayer – written by a renown evolutionary theorist, this book, which I read early in my residency, was my introduction to the interface of science and philosophy.

2.      Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas R. Hofstadter – written by a scholar of cognitive science, this book is an entertaining and challenging rollercoaster journey of thinking about thinking.

3.      Powers of Ten, by Philip Morrison and Phylis Morrison and the office of Charles and Ray Eames – the book took me through a visual journey of the universe from the smallest known particles to the vast reaches of space, as viewed from many perspectives, through many lenses.

4.      Existential Psychotherapy, by Irvin D. Yalom – written by a psychotherapist and novelist, this textbook reads like a novel, and from it I derived much of my approach to psychotherapy.

5.      The Writings of William James, edited by John J. McDermott – James’s approachable writings on the philosophic topics of Pragmatism and Pluralism continue to inform my journey into the worlds of both science and religion.

6.      Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl – written by a holocaust survivor and a psychotherapist, this book is a poignant affirmation of free will and the human capacity to rise above adversity.

7.      I and Thou, by Martin Buber – this short and difficult to read book distinguishes between the day to day indifference of the ‘it’ world and the authentic love, humanity, and dialogue that occurs when another becomes not an ‘it’, but a ‘Thou’.

8.      The Case for God, by Karen Armstrong – written by an ex-nun, with encyclopedic knowledge of the world’s religions, this book affirms my conviction that the quest to experience God is a worthy endeavor.

9.      The Blessing of a Skinned Knee:  Raising Self-Reliant Children, by Wendy Mogel – written by a child psychologist, this book articulates the importance of attending to children’s character and providing them with a moral compass. This book was often my guide when I taught parent guidance.

10.  Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman – written by a Nobel Prize winner, among many topics this book explores the tendency of humans use cognitive shortcuts to create explanations and narratives, while overlooking, denying, or forgetting facts and statistics that refute our explanations.

I just finished rereading Thinking Fast and Slow. I learned a lot, some of which I hope to write about soon.  I am excited by what I’ve learned and I’m glad to know that it’s still possible to teach an old (Boxer) dog new tricks!