Monday, May 30, 2011

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

I ignored the fact this guy wrote Men Who Stare at Goats, because that was a book I just couldn't finish. His interview on the Daily Show sealed the deal for me and I got this book. HIGHLY entertaining look at psychopaths and other mental illnesses. Which sounds weird, I know.

One of the theories that Ronson worked with here is that higher ups in the business and political worlds are psychopaths. He wasn't able to fully validate that theory but I have no doubt it's true. Bob Hare came out with a Psychopath Test. A checklist of sorts that allows people to determine who is a psychopath. But like all psychology, it's not that black and white. Almost all of us could tick off some of those traits that make a psychopath and there's no real threshold to determine who "fails".

Ronson also covers the fact that children are being diagnosed with disorders that technically are not mental disorders that children should have and he explains (accurately, I think) how drug companies are taking advantage of this and becoming drug pushers to parents.

I ended up reading this in just a few days, it was really that engrossing.

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