Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

It's now time to get ready to vote for our next set of prompts! This thread will be open for around 24 hours before the poll gets posted. This is a good opportunity to ask any question you may have regarding the prompts, do some research, or ask for recommendations.

Voting will open in the morning of Wednesday, October 6 and results will be posted in the morning of Sunday, October 10.

How it works:
- When the voting opens, follow the link to the mini-poll that will be added at the end of this post
- You have a total of 8 votes this poll to spread across your favorite and least favorite prompts (you can also use less than 8 votes) - You can find examples of acceptable voting practices on the Introduction thread.
- The prompts with the more favorable votes (comparing top votes to bottom votes, and looking at the overall number of votes it received) will be added to the final list (usually between 2 and 5 depending on how the votes are spread)

As a reminder: You have a total of 8 votes to use among your top and bottom votes. The mods have access to each individual vote, so we can see if you use more than 8 votes. If you use more than 8 votes in the poll, your vote will have to be deleted, so please make sure to follow the directions so your voice can be heard.

Possible Prompts:
1. A book where the title and author name are in two different colours
2. A book about a woman who changed history
3. A locked room or closed circle mystery
4. A book less than 220 pages OR more than 440 pages
5. A book related to a famous pair
6. A book related to a rabbit
7. A book with a character who loves books
8. A book involving travel: fiction or non-fiction, terrestrial or other
9. A winner or nominee from the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards
10. A fantasy novel
11. A book shelved as literary fiction
12. A book with a main character that fits at least one of “mad, bad and dangerous to know”
13. A book related to psychology, neuroscience or the mind
14. A book related to bees
15. A book with a theme of exploration

Feel free to discuss the prompts below, but please remember to be respectful to the other group members.

Because there are only two spots available left on our list, we will only have a maximum of two winners this week. We may still only have one winner, depending on votes.

VOTE HERE:https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/AZRQE0/

IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD

2. A book about a woman who changed history
This was a close call on a previous prompt. I was just going to forget about it, but then I watched a documentary about Pauli Murray last night. Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray was an American civil rights activist who became a lawyer, women's rights activist, Episcopal priest, and author. She was also a member of the LGBTQ community. She was actually the original architect of the legal strategy that Thurgood Marshall used to successfully argue Brown v. Board of Education and end the country’s official policy of segregation. She was also a founding member of the National Organization for Women. And I thought, “Why have I never heard of this woman?!?!?” I am sure there are MANY more out there I have never heard of, as well, and I would love to read about them. For those who do not read non-fiction, I believe that you could also read a book about a strong, female fictional character who changes the world they inhabit to satisfy this prompt suggestion. Some book suggestions:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/th...
https://offtheshelf.com/2017/03/12-in...
https://wnba-books.org/wp-content/upl...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/must-r...
https://explorethearchive.com/biograp...

3. A locked room or closed circle mystery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locked-...
GR Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://somethingisgoingtohappen.net/...

4. A book less than 220 pages OR more than 440 pages
(to be clear, this is short or long, not in between the two)

5. A book related to a famous pair
In honor of 22 being two 2's....

Romeo & Juliet; Rocky and Bullwinkle; Antony and Cleopatra; peanut butter and jelly; Bert and Ernie; left and right; yin and yang; hot and cold; yes and no

Historical fiction about famous people (like Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl), books with black and white covers, books with pairs in the title like Yes No Maybe So

You can read a book that created a famous pairing like Romeo & Juliet, Pride & Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, The Great Gatsby. You can read a book with a pair in the title like East, West, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. You could read A Tale of Two Cities. You could read The Tao of Pooh for the concept of yin and yang.

You could literally read "Romeo and Juliet". Some books that come to mind for me are:
Beatrice and Benedick by Marina Fiorato (Beatrice and Benedick from Shakespeare's "Much Ado about Nothing")
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley (Beauty and the Beast)
Robin and Marian by Stephanie Fowers (Robin Hood and Maid Marian)
Bud & Lou: The Abbott & Costello Story by Bob Thomas ( Famous Comedy Duo: Abbot and Costello).
Strange Case of Dr. Jekell & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (Good and Evil)

6. A book related to a rabbit
Watership Down, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass, The Bunny Book: How to Walk, Talk, Tease, and Please Like a Playboy Bunny, The Year of the Hare, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Harvey

8. A book involving travel: fiction or non-fiction, terrestrial or other
This could be anything from Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, to Andy Weir’s The Martian, to Around the World in Eighty Days, to The Wizard of Oz, etc.

12. A book with a main character that fits at least one of “mad, bad and dangerous to know”
This prompt definitely covers fiction and nonfiction and can be made broader or narrower via interpretation. I selected “a main character” rather than “the” main character since someone “mad, bad and dangerous to know” can often be an antagonist or character given a good amount of pages without being the protagonist or focal point.

Most thrillers or true crime novels probably have at least one focal character covering “mad” “bad” and/or “dangerous to know”, as would spy novels/non-fiction or war-set fiction and non-fiction. History and many biographies would often work too depending on the subject matter. I could definitely see people who like romances using the “dangerous to know” portion for the charming rogue that bewitches the protagonist. “Mad” can also be interpreted as an anachronistic (and historically insulting but there appear to be some efforts to reclaim the term in contemporary writing) term of mental illness and can choose a book with a main character who is living with a mental illness, especially as it looks like that was a potential prompt about a book dealing with mental health that people liked that hasn’t made it in yet.

And I am sure there are so many ways to interpret this and KIS or BIO this prompt! For some listopia ideas that cover the initial ideas I had:

Spy novels / books where a main character is a spy (spies are often seen as dangerous to know, have to hide their identities): https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Con men, gamblers, and hustlers (depending on book/character/point of view, can fulfill one or all of the adjectives): https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

True crime/thrillers: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

Romances featuring rogues/rakes: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

A list of books where you root for the “bad” guy: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6...

Villain protagonist: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...

This listopia has some comprehensive links to other lists if you are looking at using “mad” to read a book dealing with mental illness and includes one listopia geared entirely towards “memoirs of madness”: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

13. A book related to psychology, neuroscience or the mind
A book related to Psychology, Neuroscience and the Mind.

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
New Psychological Fiction Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Psychology deals with many topics other than mental illness, including human emotions, thinking, behavior, personality, empathy, identity, motivation, happiness, development, resilience, drive, attitudes, bias, prejudices, values, self-esteem, adaptability, change, trust, relationships, social behavior, positive psychology, work behavior, group behavior, organizational behavior, etc.
Neuroscience aka brain-science, is finding new ways to understand how the brain functions, and how it impacts human psychology, emotions, thinking, and behavior. It overlaps with neurology and other medical and scientific fields.
The Mind might include ideas from science fiction, spirituality, metaphysics, or other areas. ex. How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence

Psychological fiction - The top of the tag list is dominated by psychological thrillers, which are often unrealistic or twisted. If you look further down the list, you'll find fiction with more realistic psychology topics. Most genres cover some psychological issues, but without using academic terms. YA is often great with identity, cultural identity, sexual identity, sense of self, social norms. Fantasy books with heroes often deal with values, trust building, group behaviors, influence and leadership skills.

Some favorite NF on work/success:
Seabiscuit: An American Legend -narrative non-fiction, positive psychology tactics
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom - short powerful book for self-exploration, personal, professional development
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - classic
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

14. A book related to bees
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

-ecology, gardening books

titles: The Beekeeper of Aleppo,Ukraine’s Grey Bees, The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder, The Bees

food books related to honey
birds and the bees for romance

and of course bees on the cover

15. A book with a theme of exploration
I think exploration could be a bit wider than adventure... exploration of your heritage, exploration of yourself, exploration of history, exploration of religious/philosophical beliefs... I liked the prompt because it was more wide open than just adventuring and exploring new worlds (though it could absolutely be an adventure book as well).

This is my favorite group of prompts from my initial thoughts have 8 possible up votes and 2 possible down votes.

Jillian wrote: "This is my favorite group of prompts from my initial thoughts have 8 possible up votes and 2 possible down votes."

I agree, Jillian. I'm sad we will only have two winners from this group.

If we have more than 2 winners, can we add the others as bonus prompts?

This is a good group of prompts.

We have "locked room" this year for Popsugar, and there have been many arguments about what exactly "locked room" entails, so I'm glad to see this prompt officially expanded to include closed-circle as well.

As someone who'd never even heard of "closed circle mysteries" before, I think I've learned a lot this past year!

Here's the Popsugar Listopia for this year, if anyone wants more ideas:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Agree, Jillian and Emily. All these great suggestions in the last poll LOL!

I really like a lot of these too. I may end up with 8 up-votes. I should probably be pickier since we only have 2 spots left, but I really, truly like at least 8 of these!

Martha wrote: "If we have more than 2 winners, can we add the others as bonus prompts?"

I love that idea! We will add all the close calls there, so you're welcome to do a reject challenge with the close calls!

We are ending with a great list. I love or hate all of them. Definitely need to think about how I'm going to vote.

Of the many many variations we've seen of prompts about strong noteworthy women, I have to say I dislike the wording of this one the most. Does it have be biographical fiction, about a real woman who changed history? Or can it be totally fiction about someone who might have changed history if they had been real? What if nothing they did specifically altered the course of history but was truly momentous? Does the book have to specifically state that history was changed by their actions or can it be implied? Etc. etc. It's like it's too specific or something.

I love the persistency of the rabbit prompt! This is the 2nd or 3rd year in a row that it has come up as a suggestion as many times as it's allowed. I have lots of great options for it. (But I agree with Judy ....the mention of that one particular book in the suggestions thread was kind of gross and inappropriate.)

dalex wrote: "Of the many many variations we've seen of prompts about strong noteworthy women, I have to say I dislike the wording of this one the most. Does it have be biographical fiction, about a real woman who changed history? Or can it be totally fiction about someone who might have changed history if they had been real? What if nothing they did specifically altered the course of history but was truly momentous? Does the book have to specifically state that history was changed by their actions or can it be implied? Etc. etc. It's like it's too specific or something."

I chose this wording because our history books are written by men about men. There are so many women who played a role in changing the world as we know it and they get little to no recognition. So the wording was deliberate. That said, I included in my comments when I suggested this prompt that I think it could totally be used to read a fiction book related to a strong female character who changes the world they inhabit. It does not have to biographical non-fiction. You can also use your own opinions/judgments to decide what you consider history-changing. So I do not see it as too overly specific. One of the links I included as an example is a list of books by female fiction writers who changed the world with their words. They may not have changed history in the same sense as a president or prime minister might, but they changed the way people thought about topics of the day. This is history-changing as well, as far as I am concerned.

Aren't #8 & #15 (related to travel, related to exploration) basically the same thing?

Maybe it's just me but the Playboy Bunny book made me laugh. Not that I'll read it.

I laughed out loud when I saw rabbits, I really hope it gets in this time! I also really like bees.

I have 7 up/1 down right now. We'll see how I end up actually voting after more discussion.

Some great ideas in this likely final poll!

The ones I'm gravitating towards are mainly repeats I voted for previously:
- GR choice (3rd time lucky??)
- character who loves books (purely because I want to read The Bookish Life of Nina Hill next year)
- related to a rabbit (again because I have a specific book in mind - When God Was a Rabbit)
- mad/bad/dangerous (lots of thrillers will fit)
- literary fiction (my go-to 'genre' if you can call it that)

I also really like a couple of the new suggestions:
- locked room/closed circle (I don't do Popsugar so am not as familiar with this idea. It seems fun though and I have a few books on the list that Nadine posted)
- psychology/the mind/neuroscience (I would like to slot in some non-fic books next year and this would be ideal)

As for downvotes I would probably go with travel theme as we had that one this year and I didn't have a ton of options. Also fantasy novel as I don't enjoy the genre and reluctantly bees - I simply don't have anything to fit it even though I do love the idea.

Looks like I will have some narrowing to do to squeeze those into 8 votes.

Hi Kendra — as the suggestor of #8 (travel), I can see that #15 (exploration) COULD be travel related, but not necessarily. It could be a mental exploration. Like scientific discovery, or self examination, etc. Also, I suppose not all travel is exploratory. It could be a book about someone’s commute (I would hope not ALL about a commute, but just featuring it), or about someone who is a trucker, etc. Hope that helps.

I also found the playboy idea a funny way to look at the rabbit prompt. I'm not sure many people would really go down that route, I think the suggestion was just to show there are a number of avenues you can take with it. I think it's a bit much to dismiss the prompt on that basis alone lol.

I'm sure a lot of people will be happy to be all done with suggestions, voting, etc. for the year. But last year I found I missed it after it was done!

I’ll be taking my time with this vote since it is likely to be out last. I’ll look at our list to date to remind myself of what is there, what sort of prompts we have more or less of etc. I’ll probably upvote one or more of the genre prompts since we have fewer of those than the others. Rabbits and bees will probably be downvotes because we already have flora and fauna. Pleased to see the mystery prompt is closed circle or locked room. The definition and differences between the two seems to cause confusion on the year’s Popsugar challenge. I know I read more than one book that I picked from locked room lists and they weren’t. I’m not 100% sold on the one I used but I went with it since it was close enough.

So many fun options this poll! I’ll probably vote for genre prompts because we don’t have many yet. I would honestly be happy with any of these prompts.

I need to spend some time mulling this over. There are several I like.

I do feel like bees and rabbits are covered by other prompts, but I also like an underdog (underrabbit?), and that is certainly what the rabbit prompt has been these past years.

I feel like travel and exploration are very similar.

I'm still not wild about psychology because I have enough real life experience with mental health issues in my family to last me for a while. Fiction ideas that don't involve characters with mental health issues?

I don't know what I'll do yet. I'll be following the discussion.

On my first impression, I am most excited about bees, psychology/neuroscience/mind, and rabbits.

I may also upvote the famous pair prompt, only because I've been meaning to read Daisy Jones & The Six, but I'm not sure I want to push for it since there are only two slots left and I would likely read it even if the prompt didn't make it through.

Angie wrote: "I need to spend some time mulling this over. There are several I like.

I do feel like bees and rabbits are covered by other prompts, but I also like an underdog (underrabbit?), and that is certain..."

If you're interested in science fiction, fantasy, or dystopian genres, you may be able to read a book featuring a character with a mind-related power or ability. The first two that come to mind are The Darkest Minds or The Knife of Never Letting Go, but I'm sure there are plenty more out there.

What a fun final group of prompts! I immediately like the famous pair, lit-fic, pysch, and exploration prompts, in addition to mad bad dangerous.

Watership Down is one of my favorite books of all time, but I don't know that the rabbit prompt is inspiring ideas for new reads on that one so that I might downvote. And a "book involving travel" seems very similar to this year's "a book with a travel theme" and I think exploration covers similar ground while also making it broader and more different than what we've already done, so that's another downvote for me.

Goodreads Choice is one I'm mulling over right now. I'm with some others in that I don't love the prompt itself mostly because I also find the shortlists bizarre with all the late fall books on there that haven't pubbed that no one has read. But then I think about the book I read from the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards for that prompt - How Much of These Hills Is Gold - and other nominees or winners I read for other prompts or just in general - Migrations, The Vanishing Half, Hamnet, The Mirror & the Light, Piranesi, Black Sun, The Empire of Gold, and Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America - and then I'm really impressed by the range and quality of so many of the nominees, and I would have been the lesser for not reading them... and actually writing this all out I think I'm going to end up voting for this prompt, my love for what I've read outweighs my irritation with how the shortlist is made.

I will be voting for 8 up-votes. I love the genre prompts like closed door/closed circle mystery (we don't have any mysteries so far), fantasy, and literary fiction and related to neuroscience (prefer that to psychology). I like the theme of exploration and I see it as distinct from travel. I also want a long book so the less than/more than number of pages will get my vote. I also will vote for a book about a woman who changed history and mad, bad and dangerous character. I'm going to have such a long rejected prompts list this year!

When the list is final I doubt I'll be reading in order. I've watched a lot of TBR Book Bingo in the last month and think I'll be choosing my prompts every month based on what I roll from the Bingo ball cage. There are 75 balls, so I'll be combining my rejected list with the final 52 list.

My only downvote will be Goordreads awrds which I have fought all along> otherwise I want two winenrs so I will upvote 7 which I'm not sure but will include loccked room and rabitts

Angie wrote: "I'm still not wild about psychology because I have enough real life experience with mental health issues in my family to last me for a while. Fiction ideas that don't involve characters with mental health issues? n..."


I like the wording a lot this time, "A book related to psychology, neuroscience or the mind" it doesn't have to be about mental health at all. It can be about dreams, or the physical brain. I would like to read a book by David Eagleman for this, such as Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain or The Brain: The Story of You.

I understand some people's complaints against the GR Choice Awards; it's a popularity contest where many people may vote for a book they haven't read yet. But I love the GR Choice Awards precisely because of its voting process. I can't help it, I love voting for my favorite books (though I do try to read them before I vote). And after all, aren't most (if not all of us) in this group precisely because we like to vote on things, aka the prompts for a reading challenge lol.

Nadine wrote: "Angie wrote: "I'm still not wild about psychology because I have enough real life experience with mental health issues in my family to last me for a while. Fiction ideas that don't involve characte..."

My issue with the GR Choice Awards prompt is not so much about the list itself, but the fact that there are already 3 other "choose from this specific list of specific books" prompts already. The Powell's List of Book Awards, NPR's Book Concierge, and Time 100 Best YA. I always find these sorts of prompts difficult, I have often already read the ones I am interested in, and the ones I haven't read are just awful sounding to me. Sometimes I get lucky and find one I have on the TBR already but haven't got to, but those are rare. I prefer prompts that are limited by my ability to search out a good book and how creative I can be, not ones that are limited by the list itself no matter how hard I search for something that fits nor how creative I try to be.

That said I would have preferred the GR Choice Awards prompt over the Time 100 YA prompt, since I am a bit burned out on most, especially popular, YA at the moment. Choice Awards at least lets you choose between genres/categories and age ranges.

I am hoping to get some clarity on the book where the title and author name are in two different colours idea. Does this mean that the title is one color and the authors name is a different color (like the title is blue and the name is white) or does it mean that the title and author name have 2 different colors each (like the title is blue and white and the authors name is yellow and purple)?

My only 2 absolutes right now are yes for psychology/neuroscience/mind and No for GR Choice Awards. We have this prompt every year! I like to look at the results but I’m not that interested in reading most of the books on the list. I’m leaning to a yes vote for Rabbit, again! Go Rabbit, Go Rabbit!

RachelG - I'm not the originator of that prompt but my understanding was that it means they are different colors from each other (e.g. title is red but author's name is blue)

Karissa wrote: "I understand some people's complaints against the GR Choice Awards; it's a popularity contest where many people may vote for a book they haven't read yet. But I love the GR Choice Awards precisely ..."

It's never bothered me that the "awards" are a popularity contest. I can see where people find it unfair that the winners are not always the actual best book, but aside from that, I don't really get why people are so against it. To be fair though, I feel the same way about a lot of real award shows too. I find that many award shows for music, movies, etc. focus a lot on popular choices.

I still think exploration and travel are too close (yes not all travel is exploration, but I would argue all exploration is travel, even if it's just a journey of self discovery😉) So I'll just vote for exploration and downvote travel. (Plus that's already on this year's list and it has proved to be one of the hardest prompts for me to fill)

I'm one of the one who supports the inclusion of the GR choice prompt. I normally HATE list prompts, but the awards aren't all to just one type of book. You get high brow and lowbrow nominees, picture books, cookbooks, cheesy romance, political memoirs etc. And given that we are a Goodreads group, I figure including it every year should be a no brainer. But I don't usually put much stock in which book actually wins. If it doesn't make it on, I'm going to use a wildcard to switch it out for one of the other list prompts that made it on.

Other than that, I'm not sure how I'm going to vote cuz I love most of the other prompts.

Side note: I just read NeuroScience Fiction which looks at various scifi movies (The Matrix, Planet of the Apes, Minority Report, Blade Runner etc) and what neuroscience has proved or disproved or is still looking into. (We're probably not living in the Matrix, we're a lot closer to bionic parts but there are still some ethical issues) It's not an easy read, but I found it really interesting.

does anyone have and suggestions or examples for fiction books related to the psychology/neuroscience prompt?

If not, I'll read The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry which I've been meaning to read anyways. Also, it's a very sensitive topic, but a really wonderful and informative read is Suicidal: Why We Kill Ourselves

Alicia - for a fiction psychology/neuroscience book, maybe One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey? I haven’t read it myself yet, but it takes place in a mental hospital. I think I might read a non-fiction choice: Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan (autobiography).

Rachel wrote: "Alicia wrote: "does anyone have and suggestions or examples for fiction books related to the psychology/neuroscience prompt?

Trying this again because my comment seemed to come up blank the first time:

- Lisa Genova's books tend to focus on neuroscience and related topics, including Alzheimer's, ALS, and Huntington's disease
- There are quite a few thrillers that involve psychology, either in terms of characters who are psychologists, or focusing on the psychology behind the crime. Alex Michaelides focuses a lot on psychology in his books.
- We Need to Talk About Kevin has a very strong nature vs. nurture theme. I can't remember if they mention psychology specifically, but this topic is a huge one in developmental psych.

Beth wrote: "Some great ideas in this likely final poll!

The ones I'm gravitating towards are mainly repeats I voted for previously:
- GR choice (3rd time lucky??)
- character who loves books (purely because I..."

I loved When God Was A Rabbit :)

Angie wrote: "I need to spend some time mulling this over. There are several I like.

I do feel like bees and rabbits are covered by other prompts, but I also like an underdog (underrabbit?), and that is certain..."

Angie, have you looked at Lisa Genova's books? She is a neuroscientist and writes about people with physical problems (except for the one about Alzheimer's) - but perhaps that's also a bit too close to home?

RachelG. wrote: "I am hoping to get some clarity on the book where the title and author name are in two different colours idea. Does this mean that the title is one color and the authors name is a different color (..."

Hi RachelG, my intention was that the title would be in one colour (e.g. red) and the author name would be in a different colour (e.g. white). Hope that clarifies :)

Rachel wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Alicia wrote: "does anyone have and suggestions or examples for fiction books related to the psychology/neuroscience prompt?

Trying this again because my comment seemed to come up b..."

Fair warning; We Need to Talk about Kevin was one of the bleakest books I've ever read!

Emily, Can you add this to message #2?

A book related to Psychology, Neuroscience and the Mind.

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
New Psychological Fiction Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Psychology deals with many topics other than mental illness, including human emotions, thinking, behavior, personality, empathy, identity, motivation, happiness, development, resilience, drive, attitudes, bias, prejudices, values, self-esteem, adaptability, change, trust, relationships, social behavior, positive psychology, work behavior, group behavior, organizational behavior, etc.
Neuroscience aka brain-science, is finding new ways to understand how the brain functions, and how it impacts human psychology, emotions, thinking, and behavior. It overlaps with neurology and other medical and scientific fields.
The Mind might include ideas from science fiction, spirituality, metaphysics, or other areas. ex. How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence

Psychological fiction - The top of the tag list is dominated by psychological thrillers, which are often unrealistic or twisted. If you look further down the list, you'll find fiction with more realistic psychology topics. Most genres cover some psychological issues, but without using academic terms. YA is often great with identity, cultural identity, sexual identity, sense of self, social norms. Fantasy books with heroes often deal with values, trust building, group behaviors, influence and leadership skills.

Some favorite NF on work/success:
Seabiscuit: An American Legend -narrative non-fiction, positive psychology tactics
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom - short powerful book for self-exploration, personal, professional development
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - classic
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

I've wanted to propose this topic all year, and I'm thrilled that at least a few people are interested in it. I know that some of you would prefer to avoid certain mental illness topics, so I tried to include as many other psychology topics as I could find on goodreads. I think everyone has a mix of strengths and weaknesses, so I don't often see a line between healthy and not.

I started a listopia for psychological FICTION: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
I skipped some of the obvious mental illness books, and some the twisted psychological thrillers for now, so that I could include books with other psychology topics. Please add more and vote for those you think would fit - especially neuroscience fiction.

I know that some of you have more recent psychology or neuroscience education than I do, so I'd love to hear about newer topics.

Other psychology related book topics that you might like:
Positive Psychology
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Identity
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Introversion
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Self
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Bias
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Decision-making
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Happiness
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Leadership
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Social Intelligence
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Motivation
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Mental health
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Narcissism
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Alicia wrote: "does anyone have and suggestions or examples for fiction books related to the psychology/neuroscience prompt?
..."


Yaa Gyasi's latest book, Transcendent Kingdom, features a protagonist who is a PhD candidate in neuroscience. Her research plays a role in the story.

Steve wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Alicia wrote: "does anyone have and suggestions or examples for fiction books related to the psychology/neuroscience prompt?

Trying this again because my comment seem..."

Steve, thanks for the warnings about We have to talk about Kevin. I've been putting it off for years, and I think I still will.

Shannon wrote: "Angie wrote: "I need to spend some time mulling this over. There are several I like.

I do feel like bees and rabbits are covered by other prompts, but I also like an underdog (underrabbit?), and t..."

Shannon, I really like Lisa Genova's books. Her book on Alzheimer's hit close to home for me, but it was so well done, filled with love and hope. I think I only have 1 or 2 on the listopia, so if you have more can you add them?

When God was a Rabbit also fits.

Kendra wrote: "... I just read NeuroScience Fiction which looks at various scifi movies (The Matrix, Planet of the Apes, Minority Report, Blade Runner etc) and what neuroscience has proved or disproved or is still looking into. (We're probably not living in the Matrix, we're a lot closer to bionic parts but there are still some ethical issues) It's not an easy read, but I found it really interesting ..."



That sounds fascinating!! Your description makes it sound so much more interesting than the blurb haha!

Kendra wrote: "I still think exploration and travel are too close (yes not all travel is exploration, but I would argue all exploration is travel, even if it's just a journey of self discovery😉) So I'll just vote..."

Oh, that sounds cool. I used to watch a lot of sci-fi films, but it was harder to get into sci-fi books. I think neuroscience is definitely the hook for me to read more science fiction now. (And female authors or female friendly authors.)

I'll probably do the same thing with exploration vs travel - go with the broader option. Mainly because I might use a travel book for one of my continent prompts.

Voting is open!

https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/AZRQE0/

Alicia wrote: "does anyone have and suggestions or examples for fiction books related to the psychology/neuroscience prompt?"

I highly, HIGHLY recommend All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Towes. It's a book about psychology/mental health, but also about the relationship between two sisters. It's sad and beautiful and one of my all-time favorite books.