Author Guide · Psychology & Parenting
Books Written by
Daniel J. Siegel, the American psychiatrist born in 1957, trained at Harvard Medical School and then at UCLA in paediatrics and in child, adolescent and adult psychiatry. In The Developing Mind (1999) he set out a field he called interpersonal neurobiology: the idea that relationships shape the growing brain, and the brain shapes relationships in return. He has since put the same idea into language parents use at the kitchen table, from “name it to tame it” to the upstairs and downstairs brain. He is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, and five of his books have been New York Times bestsellers. This guide covers his 12 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 12 key books · 1999–2022 · Updated October 2026
ClickTap a spine to jump to that book below.
Quick answer
Daniel J. Siegel’s best-known books are The Whole-Brain Child (2011, with Tina Payne Bryson), Mindsight (2010), Brainstorm (2013) and No-Drama Discipline (2014). Start with The Whole-Brain Child, which turns his brain science into 12 strategies for everyday moments with children. Read on for which book fits teenagers, therapists or your own mind.
Where to Start with Daniel J. Siegel
If you want the book most parents start with
→ The Whole-Brain Child (2011) — 12 strategies for everyday moments with children.
If you want his ideas applied to your own mind
→ Mindsight (2010) — his first book for a general audience.
If you are raising a teenager
→ Brainstorm (2013) — the adolescent brain, ages 12 to 24.
If you want to understand your own childhood first
→ Parenting from the Inside Out (2003) — written with Mary Hartzell.
12 Daniel J. Siegel Books, in Order
The Developing Mind
The academic text that set out interpersonal neurobiology, bringing together attachment research, neuroscience and developmental psychology to argue that relationships shape how the brain and mind develop. Siegel revised it in 2012 and again in 2020, with the later subtitle How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are.
Parenting from the Inside Out
Written with Mary Hartzell, an early-childhood educator, this book argues that how well parents have made sense of their own childhood matters more for their children than what happened to them. Each chapter ends with reflective exercises for the parent rather than techniques for the child.
The Mindful Brain
A book aimed mainly at professionals that looks at mindful awareness through neuroscience, and proposes that paying attention to your own mind uses some of the same circuitry as being attuned to another person.
Mindsight
His first book for a general audience. “Mindsight” is his word for the ability to perceive the mind, your own and other people’s, and the book shows how it can be trained, using case stories from his practice. It also introduces his hand model of the brain, in which a closed fist shows how the thinking cortex can “flip its lid” under stress.
The Whole-Brain Child
Written with the psychotherapist Tina Payne Bryson, it explains integration in two directions, left and right brain and the “downstairs” survival brain and “upstairs” thinking brain, then turns it into 12 strategies such as “connect and redirect” and “name it to tame it”. Most of the book is concrete parenting scenarios rather than neuroscience. It became a New York Times bestseller.
Brainstorm
A guide to adolescence, ages 12 to 24, written for teenagers as well as their parents. Siegel argues that teenage behaviour is driven by brain changes rather than simply hormones or immaturity, and sums up the period’s strengths as ESSENCE: Emotional Spark, Social Engagement, Novelty and Creative Explorations. A New York Times bestseller.
No-Drama Discipline
The second book with Bryson applies the whole-brain approach to discipline, treating it as teaching rather than punishment: connect with the child first, then redirect the behaviour. A New York Times bestseller.
Mind
His attempt to define the mind itself, as “the emergent self-organizing process, both embodied and relational, that regulates energy and information flow within and among us”, a definition he first proposed to a gathering of about forty scientists more than two decades earlier. A New York Times bestseller.
The Yes Brain
The third book with Bryson contrasts a reactive “no brain” state with a receptive “yes brain”, and sets out ways to build balance, resilience, insight and empathy in children.
Aware
A full guide to the Wheel of Awareness, the reflective practice Siegel developed and teaches, with the science behind it and step-by-step instructions. A New York Times bestseller.
The Power of Showing Up
The fourth book with Bryson draws on attachment research to argue that what children need most is presence, summed up as the Four S’s: helping a child feel safe, seen, soothed and secure. It includes scripts for situations such as consoling, disciplining and apologising.
IntraConnected
A book about the self, arguing that identity is both inner and relational, a “me” and a “we” at once, which he combines into the word “MWe”, and that seeing it this way matters for belonging and for how people treat each other and the planet.
In What Order to Read Daniel J. Siegel
His books fall into two groups. The parenting books, four of them written with Tina Payne Bryson, can be read in any order; The Whole-Brain Child sets out the vocabulary the others build on. The books on the mind itself, from Mindsight to Mind, Aware and IntraConnected, go further into his theory with each book.
The Developing Mind and The Mindful Brain are written for clinicians and researchers. Leave them until you know whether you want the science behind the practical books.
A reading path
1. The Whole-Brain Child (2011)
2. Parenting from the Inside Out (2003)
3. Mindsight (2010)
4. Brainstorm (2013)
5. Mind (2016)
Everything Else Daniel J. Siegel Published
Beyond the 12 key books: 4 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Edited volumes and books for clinicians
4
4 books · 2003–2012
- 2003Healing Trauma: Attachment, Mind, Body and Brainco-edited with Marion Solomon
- 2009The Healing Power of Emotionco-edited with Diana Fosha and Marion F. Solomon
- 2010The Mindful Therapista clinician’s guide to mindsight and neural integration
- 2012Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiologya reference guide to the field’s ideas
The years · 1957–2022
Quick facts about Daniel J. Siegel
- Known for
- Daniel J. Siegel is known for founding the field of interpersonal neurobiology and for turning brain science into practical language for parents.
- 1957
- Born in the United States
- 2022
- IntraConnected
- Born
- 1957, United States
- Education
- MD, Harvard Medical School; postgraduate training at UCLA in paediatrics and psychiatry
- Position
- Clinical professor of psychiatry, UCLA School of Medicine
- Founded
- Co-founded UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center; executive director of the Mindsight Institute
- Editor
- Founding editor of the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology
- Bestsellers
- Five New York Times bestsellers, including The Whole-Brain Child and Brainstorm
The red mark is 2011: The Whole-Brain Child, written with Tina Payne Bryson.
How Daniel J. Siegel Writes: Brain Science You Can Use
Siegel builds every book on one idea, integration: healthy minds link different parts into a working whole, and distress comes from parts that are cut off or overwhelming. The academic books argue this through attachment research and neuroscience; the popular books translate it into images such as the upstairs and downstairs brain, or the hand model in which a fist shows the cortex “flipping its lid”.
He likes short memorable phrases that work in the moment: “name it to tame it”, “connect and redirect”, the Four S’s, ESSENCE. The parenting books with Tina Payne Bryson spend most of their pages on everyday scenes, a tantrum, a bedtime, a fight between siblings, often with cartoon panels showing what to say, and less on neuroscience.
In Mindsight, Mind and Aware he writes in a more personal register, using case stories from his own practice and guided exercises such as breath awareness and the Wheel of Awareness, so the reader can test the ideas on themselves.
Watch
Daniel J. Siegel on The Power of Showing Up
Daniel J. Siegel is interviewed about The Power of Showing Up, the book he co-wrote with Tina Payne Bryson on how a parent’s presence shapes a child’s development, organised around being safe, seen, soothed and secure. Posted in January 2022. From the official Science of Psychotherapy channel.
Frequently asked questions about Daniel J. Siegel’s books
How many books has Daniel J. Siegel written?
More than fifteen as author, co-author or editor. Twelve are the key books on this page, from The Developing Mind (1999) to IntraConnected (2022); four more, edited volumes and books for clinicians, are listed under Everything Else, and there are also workbooks and revised editions.
What are Daniel J. Siegel’s books in order?
The Developing Mind (1999), Parenting from the Inside Out (2003), The Mindful Brain (2007), Mindsight (2010), The Whole-Brain Child (2011), Brainstorm (2013), No-Drama Discipline (2014), Mind (2016), The Yes Brain (2018), Aware (2018), The Power of Showing Up (2020) and IntraConnected (2022).
Where should I start with Daniel J. Siegel?
With The Whole-Brain Child (2011) if you are a parent: it sets out his ideas through 12 practical strategies. If you want his ideas applied to your own mind, start with Mindsight (2010).
What is Daniel J. Siegel’s most famous book?
The Whole-Brain Child (2011), written with Tina Payne Bryson, a New York Times bestseller. Among his own books, Mindsight (2010) is the one that introduced his ideas to a general audience.
What is interpersonal neurobiology?
The field Siegel set out in The Developing Mind (1999), which brings together neuroscience, attachment research and other disciplines to study how relationships and the brain shape each other. He is founding editor of the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology.
Which Daniel J. Siegel books did he write with Tina Payne Bryson?
Four of the key books: The Whole-Brain Child (2011), No-Drama Discipline (2014), The Yes Brain (2018) and The Power of Showing Up (2020). They also wrote The Whole-Brain Child Workbook.
Which Daniel J. Siegel book is about teenagers?
Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain (2013), which covers ages 12 to 24 and is written for teenagers as well as parents.
What is the hand model of the brain?
Siegel’s way of showing the brain with one hand: the wrist and palm stand for the brainstem, the thumb folded in for the limbic area, and the fingers closed over it for the cortex. When the fingers lift, the thinking brain has “flipped its lid”. He uses it in Mindsight and the parenting books.
What is the Wheel of Awareness?
A reflective practice Siegel developed, in which attention moves around the senses, the body, mental activity and your sense of connection to others, like a spoke around a wheel. Aware (2018) is the full guide to it.
Is Daniel J. Siegel still alive?
Yes. He was born in 1957 and is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and executive director of the Mindsight Institute.
Footnotes
- Daniel J. Siegel — Wikipedia
- Books — Dr. Dan Siegel
- Daniel J. Siegel, MD — Child Mind Institute
- Daniel J. Siegel’s Inside-Out Guide to the Teenage Brain — School Library Journal
- Raising your child’s whole brain — Psychology Today
- Scientists say your mind isn’t confined to your brain — Quartz
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Where attention goes, neural firing flows and neural connection grows.”
— Daniel J. Siegel, Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human (2016)
If this shelf interested you, the full bookshelf has more: reading lists by theme, author guides, and notes on what is actually worth your time.
Browse the full bookshelf Get book recommendations