Until only 200 years ago people thought that what you saw in someone was what you got. But the revolutionary discovery by Freud (building on forgotten, but fascinating luminaries like Janet, Charcot and Mesmer) that many of our actions and emotions are controlled by our unconscious changed everything. No longer could we have faith in ourselves as rational beings in control of our thoughts. Then Freud fell from favour, but now, in the last 15 years, fascinating - sometimes terrifying - research - has conclusively shown that the unconscious, the preconscious and the subconscious is not only real but that we could not function without it. This book pulls together this extraordinary history of research and show it fundamentally changes our ideas about ourselves.