Jon Ronson: The psychopath test (2011, Riverhead Books)
275 pages
English language
Published Aug. 22, 2011 by Riverhead Books.
"In this madcap journey, a bestselling journalist investigates psychopaths and the industry of doctors, scientists, and everyone else who studies them. The Psychopath Test is a fascinating journey through the minds of madness. Jon Ronson's exploration of a potential hoax being played on the world's top neurologists takes him, unexpectedly, into the heart of the madness industry. An influential psychologist who is convinced that many important CEOs and politicians are, in fact, psychopaths teaches Ronson how to spot these high-flying individuals by looking out for little telltale verbal and nonverbal clues. And so Ronson, armed with his new psychopath-spotting abilities, enters the corridors of power. He spends time with a death-squad leader institutionalized for mortgage fraud in Coxsackie, New York; a legendary CEO whose psychopathy has been speculated about in the press; and a patient in an asylum for the criminally insane who insists he's sane and certainly not a …
"In this madcap journey, a bestselling journalist investigates psychopaths and the industry of doctors, scientists, and everyone else who studies them. The Psychopath Test is a fascinating journey through the minds of madness. Jon Ronson's exploration of a potential hoax being played on the world's top neurologists takes him, unexpectedly, into the heart of the madness industry. An influential psychologist who is convinced that many important CEOs and politicians are, in fact, psychopaths teaches Ronson how to spot these high-flying individuals by looking out for little telltale verbal and nonverbal clues. And so Ronson, armed with his new psychopath-spotting abilities, enters the corridors of power. He spends time with a death-squad leader institutionalized for mortgage fraud in Coxsackie, New York; a legendary CEO whose psychopathy has been speculated about in the press; and a patient in an asylum for the criminally insane who insists he's sane and certainly not a psychopath. Ronson not only solves the mystery of the hoax but also discovers, disturbingly, that sometimes the personalities at the helm of the madness industry are, with their drives and obsessions, as mad in their own way as those they study. And that relatively ordinary people are, more and more, defined by their maddest edges"--
better than the usual Robson stuff. he gets pretty deep into the boundaries between madness and sanity. who gets to draw those lines? the casualness with which it is done is shocking.
This book is extremely interesting
An interesting book. Less funny than some of his books beforehand, but an interesting look at an industry that, frankly, doesn't appear to have every many good sides.
I found the book a little meandering, and wondered how it was put together. It seems that some of it is from a Radio 4 programme; another bit is from a newspaper article as far as I could make out, and I suspect this is why some portions are very high on detail while others are odd, snatched conversations.
Parts are fascinating, however: and explain a lot about the industry he finds himself in. Some parts are rather Goldacreish, too, in their medical discussion (and Goldacre himself did read the book and give - it seems - rather savage criticism).
(The Kindle version has quite a few irritating proof-reading errors)
