The Psychopath Test Book Reviews

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Random, Incoherent, Rambling. This book was painful to read, there were maybe twenty pages I enjoyed. It is more a story of a mans journey to document how he writes a book than an interesting, informative read.

Must read. Some of the finest investigative journalism I've experienced, and put in a more than enjoyable format. Well done.

A great book.. If you like This American Life and contemplate the effects that psychopathic individuals have on society then you will greatly enjoy this book. Jon Ronson does not shy away from the odd or the insane. He questions everything and lets you draw your own conclusions. I strongly recommend all his books.

I was crazy to be so interested. After seeing the author on the talk show circuit I was excited to read about psucopath CEOs, feeling I knew some, and the author's quote that 4% were. One is discussed and dismissed as not. The rest of the book rambles through modestly interestingly case studies, frames the Scientology v. Psychiatry arguement with both sides looking both good and bad and the catalyst and conclusion is a weak pseudo mystery about a book you never care about. There is a review of the formation and checklisting for testing Psycopathy but it is a magazine article worth length overstretched into a too long book..a well written but overwhelmingly dull read. TJF

A Good Read. I've been a student of people most of my life. You know, wondering why some people act one way during an event of any kind versus why others act differently...the good and the bad. This book provides not only good information on the characteristics of what very simply is a person skilled in covert manipulation but also shares that there is danger to be found when we label people based on characteristics that they exhibit. It is definitely food for thought and as a result of sharing the book with another, good discussions have occurred. I'd say it's worth the money and time. Definitely.

Fantastic. A quick, fun, yet still eye-opening read. At times it seemed a little short, and maybe a little light on what I had assumed the book would be about after seeing Ronson pitch the book on the Daily Show (psychopathy at the corporate or political level). And although it made for entertaining reading, the whole first act about the Being or Nothingness mystery, the trip to Gothenburg, the Scientologists--it felt a little tedious and unnecessary, even though I could tell that it was all going to eventually fit into the broader narrative. I think thats why it might have felt tedious--you could see how the dots were eventually going to connect up and lead Ronson onto the subject of psychopathy. Nonetheless, The Psychopath Test was very entertaining and insightful. The chapters flew by, almost too fast. Anyway, shame iBooks doesn't have Them! Sounds like another interesting read. Maybe the Kindle app...

An OK book about Psychology. Certainly an interesting read but I found it to be a bit disappointing, probably due to the fact that it was too short and that Tony's name wasn't written. Also, I don't think this book is about psychopaths only but rather about psychology I guess, especially the last 3 chapters or so. Definetely a good research book but not an eye-opener, so to speak.

Fun. Great book! Interesting way of writing. If you are interested in psychology it is a great read.

This book was passed to me. I truly enjoyed this book. I could not help, as many others I suspect, wondering about myself. The story held me in a suspense kind of way. I did have moments of panic, thinking that their are people out there among us who have no remorse or thought of human life. But, as I have always believed, it is our madness that makes us better.

Hilarious anecdotes. I honestly did not know that this literary work is supposed to be non-fiction until a book club member said she was googling some of the characters and mentioned it as such. I laughed all of the way through it. If you are looking for an objective scientific research study in examination of Bob Hare's Psychopath Test Checklist as a tool for criminal profiling, you won't find that here. You will find a good read that will make you question your neighbors and your spouse, even yourself! It was vague in that it has no plot and there were a few places of redundant paragraphs. Sometimes it lacked cohesiveness. I would still recommend it for the laughs and the bright read.

Pretty good read.... A funny, interesting and gutsy journalistic pursuit which is a quick read and worth the price. The book takes an interesting, if not deservedly critical, look at the world of psychological diagnosis and the "cures" of the last several decades. Ronson delves firsthand into the lot with the his self-admitted neurotic journalistic style and does a good job of not approaching the topic with any undisclosed agendas. The book does taper off quite abruptly, but not before taking the reader on an enjoyable spin while incorporating a fairly comprehensive summary of the current literary coverage of the genre out there right now. Liked it a lot.

Incredible!. One of the best books I have read on the subject of psychopathy. Such a fun read, quick, and relatively easy - the only thing (and this is VERY minor thing) is that the names of the people he talks about gets a little confusing sometimes, but that does not take away from how amazing it is. Must read for anyone interested in this subject.

Fascinating read!. Enlightening, entertaining, educational and thought provoking.

The Psychopath Test. Very informative and interesting. Well worth the time spent to read it.

Completely misses the meaning of the word nuance. The Psychopath Test was written like it was meant to be a forewarning on the dangers of labeling and putting people in boxes - however, it follows the dangerous trend of valuing your own opinion over actual facts and scientific studies. The lesson to be learned is that yes, not every unpleasant person you meet will be a psychopath. That much is true and obvious. The good about this book is that it teaches you to take a middle ground and to not reduce people’s personalities into a checklist. However, with this in mind, the author ignores the presence of actual scientific studies of human behavior and personality disorders. Ironically, even though this book preaches the virtue of nuance and critical thinking, the presence of any “personality disorders” tended to be talked through the lens of the few people who were misidentified, versus the statistical majority of people who were mostly correctly identified. If you read any book on personality disorders, you would understand how actually rare most of them are because any book based on science is comfortable explaining how reliable the numbers are. The author chooses nothing rigorous to back his themes other than literal anecdotes. I cannot repeat enough that there is solid scientific, repeatable studies out there that the author simply failed to mention because this book was meant to be taken as a treatise of his own observations. It is disingenuous that way, in that the absence of any conclusion is meant to be in itself a conclusion. The human nature is currently full of mysteries and the physical mechanics of it are something we don’t know much about yet, but there are people out there who are making concerted efforts into shedding light into the subject. To ignore the scientific basis of what is essentially a scientific problem is like writing a recipe book without recipes, and simply telling the person to follow your heart on what to cook, ignoring any repeatable or measurable element. Yes, we are all reluctant to reduce our behaviors into neat little boxes. But it is dangerous to ignore actual elements of mental instability, especially from the angle of personality disorders. It might encourage people who are in abusive relationships to constantly second think their own decisions because in their own mind, there is no way another human being might be so poisonous that they don’t understand empathy. In reality, people without the cogent understanding of it exist, and that is why domestic violence is prevalent. It is not wrong to want to see the good in people. It is however, entirely inadvisable to ignore that there are studies out there that prove deep depravities that a fraction of the population is capable of. Entertaining read though, I’ll give it that.

Fun and playful book on an extreme topic. A clever and ironic journey into the world of psychopathy and the doctors who treat them. Like his other books, this one is a wonderful and mysterious story, all based on interviews and research with interesting people. I find his style of writing even more enjoyable than his Canadian alter ego, Malcolm Gladwell. If you like clever stories, about eccentric people you will love this book.

Awesome book. Great book, read it in two days. The conversations are fascinating

Entertaining and Thought-Provoking. I have really enjoyed this read. Too often do we associate psychopaths with the horrific criminals, but Ronson shows that the mentality of the psychopath can manifest in many different ways. At times the book is humorous, bewildering and downright strange. But always entertaining.

Very British. Self effacing humor, some puzzles, yank teasing and ending up conservatively in between the two points of view being presented.

Not his best book?!. It is my understanding in reading previous reviews of his work, that this is not the author's best work. Now I am compelled to begin reading his other works to find out which is better than this one. This is an excellent book. It is a lively road-trip type yarn that will have you reading in open mouthed disbelief that such people exist outside of a Jerry Springer studio. That is the point of the book, that there is a way to identify those that are the right kind of crazy. I want to read his six-star book immediately.

It was just OK. Starts off strong with some interesting insight into the world of psychopathy, but then sort of transforms half way through into a book you wouldn't expect from reading the synopsis (or the first half, for that matter). Almost as if the author discovered that he couldn't complete the book he intended to write, but nonetheless had half a book that needed an ending. All in all it was interesting, if not well assembled.

interesting.... Interesting book, but sometimes hard to follow. Shows that judging people by some "checklist" can have bad result, not just for the people being judged, but also for the people doing the judging.

Could not put down!. Absolutely fascinating read...

Fantastic. I have an embarrassing number of books that I've started and not finished, but this one grabbed me to the point that I used every spare minute I could find (lunch break, waiting for a client, etc.) to read. Ronson does an excellent job of ultimately remaining objective in spite of his own neuroses, which often make him temporarily caught up in the moment. Is psychiatry a sham or is it truly helping to protect the public and cure the unhealthy? Are we overmedicating ourselves and our children? What exactly is a psychopath, and who gets to decide who is given such a label? Do these psychopaths -- a small percentage of our population -- have a disproportionate level of control over our world? The sheer number of people Ronson interviews to explore these questions is mind-bogggling. If I have one criticism of the book it would be that: I did have to go back a few pages once in a while to remember who contributed what to the story. But this is a minor complaint about a masterfully written piece of investigative journalism. I highly recommend it, as it may be my favorite non-fiction work since "The Wisdom of Crowds".

Great read. Although a couple of sections are repetitive (verbatim paragraphs) it is, overall, a fascinating book on a topic to which I had never really given much thought. Ronson's writing style is a bit stream of consciousness, but it works. His writing style keeps the pace moving in a manner more reminiscent of fiction. For a book that is essentially an analysis of a mental condition, it is surprisingly entertaining. I plan to go back and read his other books.

The daily show. I show this book the other night on the daily show. And just read the sample. Thinking it'll be worth a look into.

Great book. This book was hard to put down after i started it. Very interesting and it makes you think about what constitutes being crazy.

Really enjoyed this book. Couldn't put it down. Thoroughly enjoyable...

Psychopath test. Informative and thought provoking. Tears rolling down cheeks with laughter, tempered by sadness for situations. Kinda think Jon ran out o material at end. I don't like such abrupt goodbyes. Worthwhile.

Great read. A funny and informative approach to the world of mental health.

Great Read. This book was very introspective,funny,sad and more. I felt like I was Listening to a good friend telling my a story. I would highly recommend giving this book a read. I only wish it was longer... =D

The psychopath test. Easy read and interesting.... Love the fact that is a true story

Super interesting!. The beginning is a tad dry, roughly the first chapter. After that I couldn’t put it down, it covers conspiracy theorists, narcissists, global power psychology, etc. The part about the guy Tony who faked insanity to escape a death sentence was wild!

Psychopath Test. This was a fascinating journey with the author in his quest to better understand the human condition. Just when he thinks he's got a good grip on the realm of normal, twists and doubts creep back in and therein somewhat abandon (or maybe just challenge) the reader to draw their own conclusions. Very enjoyable read.

Great book. Couldn't put it down. Lots of great info.

Brilliantly constructed. As a neuropsychologist who has spent countless hours studying both behavior and psychiatric diagnosis, I found this book both personally and professionally appealing. Ronson does a masterful job of weaving together a fascinating tapestry of story lines that together examine key issues bearing on what it means to be normal, abnormal, and how and why society reacts as it does to different typologies. Spot on in his research and amazing ability to put a very human context on the construct of psychopathy.

Riveting. Fantastically riveting, eye opening and hard to put down!

Excellent. Good read.

Fun read. I really enjoyed the twists and turns this book presented. I am left with some questions to ponder about sanity. This is an excellent read.

The Psychopath Test. A great read! I've been a big fan of Jon Ronson's work for some time now, and this novel really delivered. The subject matter was fascinating, yet easily accessible--it didn't get bogged down in being too medical or too technical in the language or content. Very thought-provoking, indeed. I can't remember the last book I've read where I was so jazzed about sharing what I learned with my friends and coworkers. Bravo!

John Ronson is amazing. I loved this book and his previous two. This is what "Gonzo Journalism" would have been if Hunter Thompson were a better, more interesting, more coherent writer and had less concern for proving his macho-ness. Jon Ronson is the best non-fiction writer I've ever read, and I've read a lot of biography and non-fiction. I eagerly await his next book.

A fantastic exploration of psych society. Ronson's ability to remain unbiased throughout this book is uncanny. His mission to lay the facts bare, whether citing sources for the overprescription of psych drugs to children. Or exploring the selection of guests for a reality tv show. He remains true, never taking a side. I cannot wait to see what he does next.

Floored... Stunning... Brilliant. So it's 2:46am and i just finished this book. Could not put it down. The topic is intriguing and Ronson has great awareness that he could be affected by trying to impartially observe others. I love tha t after enough exposure to the Hare checklist I start suspecting one of the indignant ex-privilege of being a psychopath - grandiose, no responsibility, discusses horrific things without qualms... Oh the power of a checklist. Recommending it to my husband and coworkers and family members. I just wish I could pass around copies of my iBook like a paperback. I'm not someone who raves. But this was an incredibly well done book.

Great read. Bought this book a few months back and never started reading until a few days ago. As soon as I got a few chapters into this book it became impossible to put down. Already recommended this book to all my friends.

I was excited to read this but.... I heard an interview with the author on NPR and it was lively and fascinating and I was very excited to read the book. I love to learn about what makes people tick and the concept of psychopaths running the world was intriguing. Unfortunately, I think the book lacked depth and detail. Many trains of thought and paths of discovery were left open and unfinished. He would start into something and it would just start to get juicy and then it would quickly fizzle out. Sometimes he would come back to it and there were several thought provoking ah-ha moments when thing became clear, but other times I was left wondering why he brought that up at all or how it related to the rest of the conversation. I would have liked to see him explore the idea of psychopaths in corporate America and politics more thoroughly. I really felt the examples of this that he chose were weak and unconvincing one way or the other, although this may have been the point. It was a quick and enjoyable read full of items to ponder which is always good and I did find myself bringing the book up in conversation several times, I believe definitely worth the read. Just not the gritty, exploratory page turner I had been hoping for.

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Well rounded!. This book was an excellent discussion on the idea of psychopaths and mental illness. I found that the author put forward and humane and unbiased understanding and for me, echoed the way I felt after reading 'Eating Animals' by Foer; unable to see things in a false binary of good or bad.

The Psychopath Test. Really enjoyed this book. Made me want to read his other books.