I: The Philosophy and Psychology of Personal Identity

I first came across this book as an undergradute psychology student more than 10 years ago, and was thrilled to find it still available in 2003. I just finished re-reading it, and was again challenged into re-thinking concepts, such as my self identify, how I precieve the world, and in particular group behavior in the context of the post 9/11 world. I think this should be a mandatory text on every school reading list, and everyone should read it!The books starts off by clearly presenting basic questions of being and identity - such as who, what where is the 'I' I refer to all of the time. Am I the same person I was as a child, and how do I retain this sense of continuity of consciousness. It then expands on this to look at such concepts as tribialism and national identity. An especially resonant line for me is (something like), "it is a sign of a civilized society, when the national anthem is listened to with a mixture of pride and mild embarrassment, rather than staunch, tear jerking nationalism".