Unfortunately I do not have time to read this right now but
here are some impressions.

The Psychology of Joss Whedon: an unauthorized exploration of
Buffy, Angel and Firefly
Edited by Joy Davidson
Published by Benbella.

215 pages on good quality paper.

The title is misleading. It is the psychology of the Whedonverse
rather than of Joss himself. Buy it.

The chapters are (with my brief descriptions nicked from theirs):

Mal's Morals -- evolutionary social psychology

Darn Your Sinister Attraction -- Jungian psychoanalysis of Spuffy
    (and vampirism as a metaphor for narcissism)

Free Will in a Deterministic Whedonverse -- examples from all three series

The Adaptive, the Maladaptive, and the Mal-Adaptive -- personality traits
in Firefly

An Analysis of Slayer Longevity -- developmental social psychology (friends
and family) in BtVS

How Buffy Learned to Confront her Fears -- adolescence and anxiety

Terror Management Aboard Serenity -- effects of the fear of dying

Existentialism Meets Feminism in BtVS

Dealing With the F-word -- feminism

Stripping River Tam's Amygdala -- clinical neuropsychology in Firefly

Buffy the Vampire Dater -- evolutionary psychology of Buffy's choices of boyfriends

More Than Entertainment -- not sure -- just the author's reflections sfaict

Buffy's Search for Meaning -- more existential ramblings

Psychology Bad -- more on River in Firefly (see above)

There's My Boy -- Angel loves Darla

-- 
John.

In article <479b888b$0$515$bed64819@news.gradwell.net>,
 "John L"  wrote:

> Unfortunately I do not have time to read this right now but
> here are some impressions.
> 
> The Psychology of Joss Whedon: an unauthorized exploration of
> Buffy, Angel and Firefly
> Edited by Joy Davidson
> Published by Benbella.
> 
> 215 pages on good quality paper.
> 
> The title is misleading. It is the psychology of the Whedonverse
> rather than of Joss himself. Buy it.

Already did. Also got "Undead TV", edited by Elaine Levine and Lisa Parks.

Based on reading a couple of the essays they seem to be your typical academic
Whedonverse books: pleasant enough to read, but don't go into as much depth as I
would like.

Still, there are usually a few insights to be had, so I'll keep buying as long
as they keep publishing.

-- 
Timo Hamalainen
Tampere University of Technology
Department of Mathematics
Replace 'teispam' with 't' for actual email address

"Timo Hämäläinen"  wrote in message news:timo.teispam.hamalainen-A0857E.14424631012008@localhost...
> In article <479b888b$0$515$bed64819@news.gradwell.net>,
>  "John L"  wrote:
>
> > Unfortunately I do not have time to read this right now but
> > here are some impressions.
> >
> > The Psychology of Joss Whedon: an unauthorized exploration of
> > Buffy, Angel and Firefly
> > Edited by Joy Davidson
> > Published by Benbella.
> >
> > 215 pages on good quality paper.
> >
> > The title is misleading. It is the psychology of the Whedonverse
> > rather than of Joss himself. Buy it.
>
> Already did. Also got "Undead TV", edited by Elaine Levine and Lisa Parks.
>
> Based on reading a couple of the essays they seem to be your typical academic
> Whedonverse books: pleasant enough to read, but don't go into as much depth as I
> would like.

Thanks. I have now bought Undead TV (Essays on Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
My first impressions are that it seems a bit old (reinforced by its off-white paper)
and internal evidence (at least at first glance) suggests it has been sitting in
the publisher's in-tray for half a decade: references are to 2002 and earlier.

From the publisher's blurb:
"In Undead TV, media studies scholars tackle the Buffy phenomenon
and its many afterlives in popular culture, the television industry,
the Internet, and academic criticism. Contributors engage with critical issues
such as stardom, gender identity, spectatorship, fandom, and intertextuality."
http://www.dukeupress.edu/cgibin/forwardsql/search.cgi?template2=books/book_detail_page.htm&Bmain.item=8782

Here is the table of contents. Chapter 3 catches the eye.

Acknowledgments vii
Introduction
/    Elana Levine and Lisa Parks 1
1. The Changing Face of Teen Television, or Why We All Love Buffy
/    Mary Celeste Kearney 17
2. I Know What You Did Last Summer: Sarah Michelle Gellar and
    Crossover Teen Stardom
/    Susan Murray 43
3. Vampire Hunters: The Scheduling and Reception of Buffy the
    Vampire Slayer and Angel in the United Kingdom
/    Annette Hill and Ian Calcutt 56
4. The Epistemological Stakes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Television
    Criticism and Marketing Demands
/    Amelie Hastie 74
5. Did Anyone Ever Explain to You What Secret Identity Means? Race
    and Displacement in Buffy and Dark Angel
/    Cynthia Fuchs 96
6. At Stake: Angel's Body, Fantasy Masculinity, and Queer Desire in
    Teen Television
/    Allison McCracken 116
7. Buffy as Femme Fatale: The Cult Heroine and the Male Spectator
/    Jason Middleton 145
8. Buffy and the New Girl Order: Defining Feminism and Femininity
/    Elana Levine 168
Bibliography 191
Contributors 197
Index 199

Chapter 3, then. Hill and Calcutt make a poor fist of covering the UK
scene, and not just because they missed this newsgroup completely
in favour of a couple of web sites. They are apparently unaware
that complaints were coordinated: we can tell this because for one
episode they arrived before it was aired (presumably moralists do
not follow snooker).  In discussing censorship and cuts, Hill and
Calcutt do not mention the uncut, late night showings each week.

>
> Still, there are usually a few insights to be had, so I'll keep buying as long
> as they keep publishing.
>

Indeed.

-- 
John.