Psycho Cybernetics
Published 1999 · 382 pages · 105,050 words · about 5 hours at an average pace · Self-Help, Psychology
How hard is Psycho Cybernetics to read?
Psycho Cybernetics scores 19 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 28 out of 100
- Maltz writes in plain, conversational English with a few terms borrowed from cybernetics and medicine, such as servo-mechanism and feedback. It sits close to Atomic Habits in accessibility.
- Sentence structure: 25 out of 100
- Sentences are short and declarative, with directive instructions for the exercises. Nothing demands careful parsing.
- Abstraction: 38 out of 100
- The central idea of the mind as a goal-seeking machine is abstract, but Maltz anchors it in patient stories and daily drills. It is comparable to Atomic Habits in using concrete examples for concepts.
- Information density: 32 out of 100
- Chapters repeat a few core ideas with anecdotes and exercises, so new concepts arrive slowly. The pace is lighter than Atomic Habits.
How Psycho Cybernetics is regarded
Psycho Cybernetics holds a literary regard score of 40 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.