Janus Gate: Psychology, Culture & Books

Psychology, contemporary culture, and books

By Alexandra Shaker

So you need some awe in your life

awe as science, magic, and sometimes horror

Jun 15•Alexandra Shaker, PhD

Vagus nerve stimulation, The Chaos Machine, and The Director

Also polyvagal theory, cults, and Summer House

May 27•Alexandra Shaker, PhD

April/May: Listening, reading, watching

Pulitzer Prize winners, Khazna, Diabolical Lies, and the failures of replicability

May 5•Alexandra Shaker, PhD

Craft, Biography, Power, and the Probability of Doom

Six mythical sea creatures, including a callionymid, a fictional dolphin, one of Neptune’s sea horses, Nicolaes de Bruyn

Apr 8•Alexandra Shaker, PhD

The AI Hellscape

The dangers of AI psychotherapy

Mar 21•Alexandra Shaker, PhD

My paperback, Owning It, and a cult rabbit hole

This week (March 12th!) the paperback of my book The Narrowing: How Understanding the Relationship Between Anxiety and the Body Can Help Us to…

Mar 9•Alexandra Shaker, PhD

Anxiety, the body, and feeling at home

also panic attacks, flow states, and Kevin McCloud

Feb 26•Alexandra Shaker, PhD

Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and Sadism

and the Epstein files

Feb 18•Alexandra Shaker, PhD

Listening When it's Hard

And action as the antidote to anxiety, sometimes

Jan 30•Alexandra Shaker, PhD

How to write a book: Developing and writing nonfiction

Writing, editing, and getting un-stuck

Jan 20•Alexandra Shaker, PhD

Transitions and resolutions re-imagined

Postcard (and so many other beautiful things) from the Dennis Severs House

Jan 7•Alexandra Shaker, PhD

AI, Our Brains, Our Selves

Artificial intelligence, cognitive HIIT, and end-of-year reading

Dec 12, 2025•Alexandra Shaker, PhD