Customer Reviews

Biological Psychology

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This comment is addressed to the publisher, Wadsworth, and NOT to the most excellent Dr. Kalat.

I would very much like to buy this textbook. However, the description of the 10th edition does not make clear how the book was improved from the 9th edition, that I already own.

In addition, when I looked inside the 10th edition electronically, the sample of the first chapter seemed to have changed hardly at all (except the formatting is nicer with the new edition). This did not inspire my confidence in the publisher, especially because the book is so expensive!

As a result, I would strongly suggest that the publisher allow potential buyers to find out what has changed between editions. This would allow a consumer to learn whether the book has actually been made more current. Otherwise, for me, there is little incentive to buy.

I'm sure a lot of the blame lies with the publisher, but this book tries way too hard to be "hip". It has a lot of "Go try this online!" links in the text (some of which were not reviewed very carefully). If that's your thing, then maybe this book will appeal to you, but I found it distracting and childish. It seemed like it was written for a high-school age crowd, despite being a topic more often covered in college or grad school. There were a lot of illustrations, which were very helpful, and the summaries of each chapter are a big help when studying for exams. They also do a good job of highlighting the key terms in the text.

Unless you're really in to the online thing, or unless your prof requires it, I wouldn't shell out for the "WebTutor" key code. The online quizzes and powerpoint presentations are full of typos and errors.

WOW! This is an incredibly illustrated and beautifully laid out book. The information is fantastic. It is suitable for undergraduate level or early graduate level biological psychology--- its not so detailed that it becomes dry and boring, yet, not too simple that it does the same. Its extremely easy to learn from and very up to date. The author, Dr. Kalat, blends in a bit of humor and the most interesting current topics in neuroscience. I highly recommend this text for your course or for an interested enthusiast. You will not be disappointed!

Updates for this edition: The text layout has been revised, new studies on break-through topics (such as plasticity) have been included, graphics and artwork has been enhanced. Overall, the improvements over the previous edition are not absolutely essential. If you find the previous edition for a bargain, don't pass it up.

This is definitely not one of the best Biological Psychology books out there. To be honest, I'm actually quite surprised my professor, who is otherwise an incredible lecturer, even selected this as our course text. It treats the material at a very basic, surface level. The author thoroughly cites interesting, current research investigations and findings, but there is otherwise very limited discussion and elaboration on the majority of the topics.

Not worth the $130 I spent for it, even on a discount...

An easy to follow, jargon free, succinct little textbook that attempts to ease the student into the otherwise daunting subject of biological psychology. To this end, Kalat's book serves it's purpose well. Unfortunately, it is saturated with references to interesting research that is only given a cursory glance and never fully explained.
For the student who is in any way familiar with biological psychology, I probably wouldn't advise you to use this textbook. You won't learn anything new.
For those who are new to biological psychology however, this is a very good place to start.

I used this text for an undergraduate course in Biopsychology. Overall, the information was well presented, and the layout/design of the book was very nice. Kalat even weaved humorous remarks throughout the text.

I learned a lot from the book, and I think it was a good choice for the course. However, there were times when it was a little difficult to follow Kalat. The writing within the chapters didn't always follow the most logical progression for a newcomer to the material. I know that other people who reviewed this book said that the material was too easy, but for someone who had never taken a course in Biopsych, the book was challenging at times. The anatomy of the brain was particularly difficult to follow.

After multiple readings of a chapter, I could always grasp the material. Perhaps there could be a slightly better outline and progression of topics that would make the book more approachable.

Overall, it was a good textbook, but I think there are a few improvements that could be made to make it even better.

Why as a college student would I benefit from a book with no page numbers? Why of all the books would the most expensive be devoid of page numbers on its Kindle version? I am really disgusted with Kindle right now. A book with no page numbers is totally useless to me for my class. I am sure this will be a wonderful book and enjoyable class but I will not be using the kindle version of it unless they add page numbers within the next few hours.

I am currently taking an online biopsychology class. This book makes the topic incredibly interesting, and the concepts in it are easy to understand. It's very thorough, but not thorough to the point where your head hurts from all of the knowledge. I will definitely be keeping this book, because I know it will come in handy for the rest of my psychology courses. :)

I really enjoyed reading this text book there are a few changes from the older edition such as pictures but the content is pretty much the same. I bought the international edition which came out way cheaper than the hardcover. I thought there were going to be differences between the hardcover and the international. The only main difference is the paper which is thinner than the hardcover that is thicker. If you find a cheaper book check out the international edition.

Received the book I ordered on time and in good condition. I will use this company again. I was thoroughly pleased with the service.