Positive Psychology Book List

UPDATE July 17, 2008 -- For a much more up-to-date set of suggested readings, download "Good Reads on Positive Psychology"  under "Resources" on the right-hand side of this page.  Enjoy!

 

Recently, I've been asked a couple of times for a basic set of positive psychology books to serve as a "teachers' library in a school".  Here's the latest list I've developed (for an elementary school where I've been invited to introduce the faculty to positive psychology.  Except as noted, I have stuck with books I have read. 

• Character Strengths and Virtues, Peterson & Seligman. (2004)  -- The more I work with this system of character strengths, the more I find in it.  The first part of the book explains the approach that was taken, and the rest serves as a reference resource about the research, measures, correlates, and possible future directions on each of the strengths.
• Mindset Dweck (2006) (Previous post.) How having a "growth" view of intelligence, artistic ability, love, or other areas impacts our willingness to try, recovery from adversity, persistence, and, ultimately success AND happiness.  (See the chapter on "Love of Learning" in Character Strengths and Virtues.)
• Appreciative Intelligence  by Thatchenkery & Metzker (2006)  The chapter on Delaware Valley Friends School deals directly with education -- but don't miss the rest!
• The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, Haidt (2005)  It's not just intelligences that are multiple!  Try multiple brains!  Or, at least, multiple relatively independent systems in the brain.  Haidt's metaphor of the rider and the elephant is worth reading the book.  Great writer.  Sound insights.
• Authentic Happiness, Seligman (2002)  This book is routinely cited in the literature.  A foundational text.
• The Resilience Factor: 7 Essential Skills for Overcoming Life’s Inevitable Obstacles, Shatté & Reivich, (2002)  Practical, practical, practical.  How to apply the insights.
• Now, Discover Your Strengths, Buckingham and Clifton (2001).  This is a different approach to strengths from that in Character Strengths and Virtues.  More strengths of "capacity."  Very well written, practical, and comes with an access code for the online, proprietary StrengthsFinder instrument.
• Learned Optimism, Seligman (1998) -- more indepth on explanatory style than is provided in the more recent Authentic Happiness.
• Aging Well, Vaillant --  Reports on multiple, longitudinal studies now under the administration of Dr. Vaillant.  Science, yes, but also uplifting and hopeful.
• The Paradox of Choice, Schwartz.  Are you generally a "maximizer" or "satisficer"?  Should you care?  Good book not only for consumers, but for achievers.  Since nothing's ever "finished", what does "do your best" mean?
• Making Hope Happen, McDermott & Snyder.  A real "workbook" approach.

On an organizational level, I'd suggest the following, all by folks who are or have been part of the Positive Organizational Scholarship Center at Michigan:

• Building the Bridge as You Walk On It, Quinn (2004).  Outstanding on leadership.
• Making the Impossible Possible: Leading Extraordinary Performance: The Rocky Flats Story Cameron & Lavine (2006).  Very readable and a great introduction to Cameron's work over the years looking at the four quadrants of excellence that must co-exist with one another despite paradoxes for outstanding organizational success.
• Energize Your Workplace Dutton (2003)  The why and the how of positive human relationships at work.  If you ever get an opportunity to hear Jane Dutton, jump on it!

And, finally, I haven't read these but recommend them based on either knowing the author (Tom Rath), or having heard her speak (Ellen Langer).

On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity, Langer (2005)  [Langer has some others], and her first work, Mindfulness (1990)  If an orchestra (artist, teacher, whatever) changes something about a performance in a way that only they know, will anyone notice?  Yep!  Find out why and how you can apply mindfulness in your life!

How Full Is Your Bucket?, Rath & Clifton (2004)  Among his other notable accomplishments, Tom Rath was a MAPP classmate.  His brand new book, Vital Friends (2006) is also on my "to read" list

I'm sure I'm leaving good stuff out, but any one of these would be a good start toward a more systematic, powerful understanding of how the positive can broaden and build our lives together.

Comments

[Senia]

Excellent book list! And I'm especially liking your descriptions of the books!