When I bought this book for D.B.'s class, I was all, "Oh great, another professor making me buy his book for his class!" I figured I would read the one chapter he required us to read and then return it to the bookstore as soon as possible.

But then, after I read that one required chapter, and I decided to keep the book after all.

For another film course I was forced to buy Syd Field's book "Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting" and read it over a weekend. Even though Syd's book is a supposed "industry standard" screenwriting book, I wouldn't recommend buying it. After all, any good screenwriting professor will tell you that all screenplay books tell you basically the same thing. You only have to buy one book to learn formatting, the three-act structure, etc. I recommend D.B. Gilles' "The Screenwriter Within" because it gives you the same information you'll find anywhere else, with the added bonus of a sense of humor.

Granted, Syd Field's book is funny, but it is because his examples are outdated, and the screenplay he uses for an example is about speedboats. Syd Field is succeeding at being funny without trying, whereas D.B. is trying to be funny and succeeding. Therefore, I recommend the latter.

I thought this was an excellent book. I've written some screenplays and read other screenwriting books, and this is the best I've read by far. It was fun to read, but it also delivered the goods. It really tells you how to come up with great stories and craft them into a professional screenplay. Most screenwriting books are dull as dirt, and that's why I liked this one so much. I laughed a lot (hey, it was more entertaining than a lot of movies I've seen), but I was also inspired. It's filled with all the important inside information you need to know. Great book!

I've written two screenplays so far and had trouble with the structure, primarily when it came to the third act. I seemed to run out of steam creatively. I've read Aristotle's Poetics and Joseph Campbell and four other screenwriting manuals that pretty much all said the same thing. The Screenwriter Within says it differently. Gilles makes structuring a story and building a plot easy to understand and, I guess more importantly, easier to undertake. I looked at both of my previous scripts and applied some of the tips that Gilles suggests and realized that the reason my third acts crashed and burned was because my first acts took too long to get started. Instead of feeling happy or at least pleased when I finished my two scripts, I felt defeated. But this book inspired me and motivated me to try and fix one of the scripts. Gilles ends his book with a neat quote that also made me feel writing a good screenplay and even selling it is possible. Highly recommended.

Don't be fooled by the catchy title - this isn't a pop-psych wander through commonly-held delusions. Blending science, philosophy and psychology, Eduardo Giannetti makes a rigorous yet accessible attempt to explain precisely what goes on in our minds when we (try to) deceive ourselves, why we do it, and its consequences. Only in the fourth and final chapter does he really apply this theory to intra- and interpersonal behaviour and draw some interesting conclusions for the rule of law. Giannetti is an historian of ideas, and it shows. The scope of his research for this book is enormous. But for all the depth and breadth of its inquiry, you don't have to be a student of philosophy to appreciate it. A passing acquaintance with epistemology - especially Descartes - will smooth your path through the first two chapters, but Giannetti's skill for cogent argument, his clear examples and comprehensive end notes are enormously helpful. You come away feeling like you've had a crash-course in neuroscience, evolution, psychology and ethics, and with a long list of books you want to buy.