Andrew Newton's Library
If all the books you read in your life were placed on the shelf in the order you read them, they would provide an insight into your mind, your personality, your character development, your opinions, and your beliefs. If, in the future, my son needed to look at some of the books that influenced me, and formed the beliefs I hold to be true, some of them are here on this list.
Hypnosis / Hypnotherapy
F.L. Marcuse: Hypnosis Fact and Fiction
Stephen J. Lynn & Irving Kirsch: Essentials of Clinical Hypnosis
Nick Spanos & J. F. Chaves: Hypnosis: The Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective.
Bandler & Grinder: Patterns of Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. Vol. I
Bandler, Delozier, Grinder: Patterns of Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D., Vol. II
Herbert Benson MD: The Relaxation Response
At a press conference called by Paul McCartney, the Fab Four told the world that the teachings of the Maharishi had persuaded them to give up cannabis and LSD and that this change of heart had been brought about by the repetition of a simple mantra several times a day. Emile Coué would have been proud, but the Maharishi was prouder still.
As John Lennon spoke about the tremendous benefits of spiritual regeneration, the Maharishi’s grin grew ever wider – and not just for the benefit of the cameras. A few weeks later, John, Paul, George and the one that played the drums headed off to the Himalayas for another helping of the Great Mystic’s mystical teachings, along with, amongst others with money to burn, the actress Mia Farrow, who was only nineteen at the time and fortunately for the Maharishi was not yet engaged to Frank Sinatra.
The Great One invited Miss Farrow backstage for a little private meditation, which she regrettably confused with a blatant sexual advance. The very next day, detecting a little hypocrisy in the air, John, Paul, George and the one that played the drums packed their bags to leave. Asked by the Maharishi why they were leaving, John Lennon replied, with all the subtle jocularity of the Scouser, ‘You’re so cosmic, you’ll know why we’re going!’
Despite his association with the Rolls-Royce collecting, adulterous, beardy weirdo, Dr. Benson has managed to maintain a balanced view of the value of relaxation, meditation, self hypnosis – whatever you want to call it – and waxes lyrical about its benefits.
Herbert Benson MD & William Proctor: Beyond the relaxation response: How to Harness the Healing Power of Your Personal Beliefs.
Josie Hadley and Carol Staudacher: Hypnosis for Change
David Britland: Hypnosis: The Big Sleep
Psychology
To practice Hypnosis, it is vital to understand the psychology behind it. If you haven’t got the background, you will not only fail, you may find yourself in a position where you are a danger to others. Stage Hypnotists take note!
R. D. Nye: Three psychologies: Perspectives from Freud, Skinner, and Rogers (4th edition)
Stanley Milgram: Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View
Howard Gardner: Extraordinary Minds
M. Hunt: The Story of Psychology
Irving Kirsch: The Emperor’s New Drugs – Exploding the Anti-Depressant Myth
Robert B. Cialdini: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
William J. Bryan Jr: The Chosen Ones – The Psychology of Jury Selection
Richard Holmes: Acts of War
Dan Ariely: The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty
Dan Ariely: Predictably Irrational
William C. Dement: Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep: Exploring the World of Sleep
J. De Rivera & T. R. Sarbin: Believed-in Imaginings: The Narrative Construction of Reality
Cordelia Fine: A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives
A.R. Pratkanis & E. Aronson: Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion
Erich Fromm: The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness
D. Blum: Sex on the Brain: The Biological Differences Between Men and Women.
C. Brenner: An Elementary Textbook of Psychoanalysis
Group Behaviour
Gustav Le Bon: The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind
Charles MacKay: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Memory
Elizabeth Loftus & K. Ketcham: The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse
Daniel. L. Alkon: Memory’s Voice: Deciphering the Mind-Brain Code
J. A Hobson: The Chemistry of Conscious States: How the Brain Changes its Mind.
Psychotherapy / Hypnotherapy
As hypnotherapists, we are often asked to deal with a wide range of personal disorders, from fears and phobias to obsessive-compulsive disorders, to anxiety, to clients who may even be mentally ill. In the real world, the professional psychologists and psychiatrists are often specialists in each of these fields. So, sometimes we may find ourselves floundering in a sea of ignorance. So maybe a look at the following four volumes would be useful.
Aaron. T. Beck & Gary Emery: Anxiety Disorders and Phobias: A Cognitive Perspective.
Judith Acosta & Judith Simon Prager Ph.D: The Worst is Over – Verbal First Aid to calm, promote healing and save lives
A.B. Lowen: Narcissism: Denial of the True Self
Steven Levenkron: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders: Treating and Understanding Crippling Habits.
Science
Nick Lane: Life Ascending – The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution
Judith Acosta & Judith Simon Prager Ph.D: The Worst is Over – Verbal First Aid to calm, promote healing and save lives
Bill Bryson: A Short History of Nearly Everything
Ben Goldacre: Bad Science
Religion
I used to have a sneaking suspicion that God might not exist, but as I went through life I became convinced of it… and I am now free.
C J Werleman: God Hates You – Hate Him Back – Making Sense of the Bible
George H. Smith: Atheism: The Case Against God
David Mills: Atheist Universe – The Thinking Person’s Answer to Christian Fundamentalism
Will Foote: The Bible Delusion – Why Belief in the Infallible Word of God is a Delusion
Jason Long: Biblical Nonsense – A Review of the Bible for Doubting Christians
Darrel W. Ray Ed.D: The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture
Craig A. James: The Religion Virus
Sam Harris: Letter to a Christian Nation: A Challenge to the Faith of America
Ken Smith BA: Ken’s Guide to the Bible
Christopher Hitchens: God Is Not Great
God is Not Great is a much better book. www.evilbible.com A veritable mine of information about how we are misled, conned, manipulated, sucked in, deceived, swindled, defrauded, tricked, robbed, cheated, scammed, hoodwinked, hoaxed, duped, exploited… et cetera. Plenty to learn (and laugh at) here, although some of the material on the site is quite shocking. It does however cut through all the hypocritical nonsense.
Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)
L. Michael Hall & Barbara P. Belnap: The sourcebook of Magic: A Comprehensive Guide to the Technology of NLP
Joseph O’Connor & John Seymour: Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming
Robert Dilts: Applications of NLP: A Practical Guide to Using NLP Techniques in Many Different Contexts
Ian McDermott & Wendy Jago: The NLP Coach
Rhonda Byrne: The Secret
Studies of the Human Condition