Title: “How Psychology Works”
Author: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)
Reviewer: Cyrus, Gr. 8
Score: 5/5
“How Psychology Works” by the publisher DK is a book that covers many topics within the field of psychology in a visual, easy-to-read style. While reading about psychology can often be very technical and monotonous, I really enjoyed reading this book, which was due to the unique visual style it is written in. While this book has tons of useful content in it, reading it does not feel like a chore. That said, the format used limits the book from going into great depth on each topic, but to me this is not necessary for this type of introductory book.
There are 4 sections in this book, titled: What is Psychology, Psychological Disorders, Healing Therapies, and Psychology in the Real World. I think the structure of the book was chosen well, as reading the book cover-to-cover would give the reader a thorough understanding of what they were reading and why they were reading it. The layout of each topic in the book was also well done in my opinion. Each concept or topic in the book covers a set of two pages, which typically consist of a large image with some text covering one page, a few paragraphs of text to give some background on the topic, and a couple small diagrams. I think that DK did a great job at utilizing these diagrams, as they feel natural to read, and never feel like they are there for their own sake. Also, while I was reading the book, I noticed that the diagrams helped me better remember the content of each page. Overall, I don’t think anyone would dislike the organization and configuration of this book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in psychology who does not possess much specific knowledge on this field yet. Considering the general obscurity of psychology to most, I think this book could really be well-suited for anyone of any age. However, because of the grammar used in the book, I would recommend it more for those over the age of 10. For readers who have enjoyed the book, I would recommend looking at other books in the “How Things Work” series by DK. There are tons of other subjects which DK covers in their easy-to-read, visual style. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!