Where to find the best Psychology Books for students?

Today there are various means of finding information on specific psychology topics, from face-to-face lectures to videos and podcasts. Although many people are reluctant to use these types of platforms, the reality is that a large part of them are approached by professionals and students with a lot of work behind them. However, the bulk of psychology material is still in a more vintage: the one of the books. For this reason, we consider that all students —whether they are studying the degree, are professionals or simply curious— at some point they should turn to paper (at least digitally) to deepen their knowledge. With this in mind, in this article we will propose a series of guidelines to know where to find the best psychology books for students.

What characteristics should a good psychology book for students have?

Psychology is an immense discipline. In fact, when we pretend to talk about "psychology", we are actually referring to a gigantic umbrella under which hides a multiplicity of theories that coexist under a single name. Each one of them pursues different objectives, is based on different traditions and is based on different epistemological assumptions. As if that were not enough, today we have endless branches of psychology capable of applying the theoretical knowledge of the discipline, such such as clinical, labor, educational, legal, sports, neuroscience psychology... and, looking to the future, there are still many more to come. develop.

Given its breadth, it is to be expected —and even convenient— that the curricula of undergraduate courses in faculties throughout the world make large cuts on what will be studied in each subject and, therefore, determine what content will remain for out. The problem is that many students, despite finding a specific area of ​​psychology capable of arousing great interest in them, are unaware of which spaces they should go to in order to delve into certain topics (in general, for those whose university education is not enough). The feeling of being overwhelmed by the density of information relevant to psychology is also shared. by other types of students, such as graduates or those who are interested in the discipline but do not study the career.

Reading about psychology always adds up, whether it is manuals, articles in popular magazines or scientific publications. For this reason, the initial proposal to learn about psychology is to be guided by curiosity. Of course, it is also true that we could agree on a set of characteristics that should have a good psychology book for students, as some texts might be more suitable than others for this public.

First of all, a good book for students uses terminology specific to the discipline, although its vocabulary is accessible. Unlike texts intended for the general public, psychology books for students can afford a "conceptual floor," that is, take some of them for granted. concepts of the discipline without dwelling on them, let us suppose, that of "conditioning", with the aim of fluently addressing other constructs of a greater degree of abstraction. However, texts aimed at students should not be too complex, so that students can understand most of what they read. Therefore, thinking about a good psychology book cannot be separated from the level of training reached by the reader. It is necessary for him to evaluate if his current knowledge is sufficient to sit in front of a particular text, or if it would be a better idea to choose a simpler one.

A good psychology book for students can cover one specific topic and leave out many others—since it doesn't have to be very comprehensive to be considered good—but ideally it should refer to other texts by different authors. We consider this to be a valuable quality in a text aimed at students because it will allow them to record the big picture of the topic they are reading about, from which they will know which books to turn to if they want to delve into a topic specific. In addition, it will enable them to observe how they dialogue and discuss the different theoretical-epistemological frameworks of psychology in a particular area.

Where do I find the best books for students?

Knowing what are the characteristics that a good book aimed at students should have, below we point out some places where you can find ideal texts for this audience.

1. search free

The Web buscalibre.es includes a very complete section of Psychology Books for students, with tens of thousands of titles that you can easily purchase. Here there are from academic titles to personal development books, going through philosophical essays related to Psychology and the human mind. In addition, there are always interesting price offers and it allows you to find what you are looking for through a easy to use filter system, regardless of whether you want physical books, ebooks or audiobooks.

2. University Library

Most of the "classic" elementary texts on psychology are found in the college library, although it is also possible to find them in a public library. On these sites, the books are usually classified according to the branch of psychology to which they refer, or according to the topic they deal with. Of course, surely the catalog will not be very up-to-date and it may be difficult to acquire books in person (given the low availability of copies, you may have to wait for someone else to return the book you are looking for) or in electronic format (many library websites are complicated to use because they are not oriented towards efficiency).

To go with a better idea of ​​what titles to look for, a good strategy is to talk to an advanced student or teacher who can recommend books that will be useful for various subjects of the undergraduate degree, if they are studying it.

3. Social networks, videos and podcasts

Many students, teachers and researchers share their knowledge through social networks, videos on different platforms or podcasts. These often provide valuable information on psychology topics., and sometimes they give the opportunity to download the first chapter of a book for free. One possibility is to contact these people personally and ask them if they could recommend to the public student the best titles for them, or check if they have already responded to this type of concern with anteriority.

4. Browse review websites

One last strategy that we propose to find good psychology books for students is to start by searching for books on trade pages, rating and rating of books. Over there it is possible to filter the search according to the popularity of the book or its topics, so it will not take too long to know which are the most sought-after psychology books. Although this is a step prior to acquiring the book and is valuable above all when deciding what to read and what not, in With this type of website, it is possible to read reviews of users who bought it and were willing to give their opinion. In line with this, there are pages or applications such as Goodreads intended mainly for the preparation of reviews or reviews of books, so it would also be ideal to review the opinion of readers on sites like this before purchasing a book for students.