I recall one Winter night this past year being in a Barnes and Noble bookstore (or Border’s, whatever) and noticing a psychology section. I like psychology so I was immediately drawn to it. And then immediately repulsed. A quick scan of the small section revealed titles with an overwhelmingly sexual nature to them. I was quite disappointed and needless to say got The Republic by Plato instead (Though I haven’t read it yet…). Anyway, I was on Mobipocket.com which is actually a pretty fantastic eBook place, but I use it mostly because of all the Palm syncable content they have on it. My eyes scanning through all the sections stumbled upon, you guessed it, psychology. And once again, I was disappointed. Here are the “Top titles” from said section:
- The Pickup Artist: The New and Improved Art of Seduction
- Hypnosis and the Science of Seduction
- The Secret Language of Hypnotherapy
- Controlling People
- Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
- The Sociopath Next Door
- How to Win Any Argument
Wow. Psychology? Maybe. Selling sex, self, and pride? Definitely. (Side note: Controlling people is a book on people who are controlling and not a how-to-control-people book, though that would be comical if it was…) So there you have it. This is what psychology is to the modern reader. I guess the works of the great psychologists and actual books on psychology don’t sell well. This is a great indicator of what our society is focused on…comforting thought…
