The Principles of Psychology
William James's The Principles of Psychology (1890), the fruit of twelve years' labour, is the founding masterpiece of American psychology and one of the great prose works of its century. Ranging across habit, the 'stream of thought,' the self, attention, memory, emotion, will, and the perception of space and time, James treats mind as a biological function embedded in a living body while never reducing away the felt texture of consciousness. Its blend of physiological science, philosophical acuity, and vivid introspection shaped psychology, phenomenology, and pragmatism alike.