The Noonday Demon
by Andrew Solomon | 
Driven To Distraction
by Edward M. Hallowell | 
Make It Stick
by Peter C. Brown | 
Mindsight
by Daniel J. Siegel | 
Willpower
by Roy F. Baumeister | 
A Mind For Numbers
by Barbara Oakley | 
Evolutionary Psychology
by David Buss | 
Neurosis and Human Growth
by Karen Horney | 
You Are Not So Smart
by David McRaney | 
Games People Play
by Eric Berne | 
Hardwiring Happiness
by Rick Hanson | 
What's Behind Your Belly Button? A Psychological Perspective of the Intelligence of Human Nature and Gut Instinct
by Martha Char Love | 
Personality
by Daniel Nettle | 
The Marshmallow Test
by Walter Mischel | 
You Can Beat Your Brain
by David McRaney | 
The Wisdom of Psychopaths
by Kevin Dutton |
Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot
by Richard Restak | 
Your Brain: The Missing Manual
by Matthew MacDonald | 
Liespotting
by Pamela Meyer | 
Friendfluence
by Carlin Flora |
John T. Cacioppo's groundbreaking research topples one of the pillars of modern medicine and psychology: the focus on the individual as the unit of inquiry. By employing brain scans, monitoring blood pressure, and analyzing immune function, he demonstrates the overpowering influence of social context--a factor so strong that it can alter DNA replication. He defines an unrecognized syndrome--chronic loneliness--brings it out of the shadow of its cousin depression, and shows how this subjective sense of social isolation uniquely disrupts our perceptions, behavior, and physiology, becoming a trap that not only reinforces isolation but can also lead to early death. He gives the lie to the Hobbesian view of human nature as a "war of all against all," and he shows how social cooperation is, in fact, humanity's defining characteristic. Most important, he shows how we can break the trap of isolation for our benefit both as individuals and as a society.