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John Lithgow recommended A Bright Shining Lie in Books (curated)
BookblogbyCari (345 KP) rated The Psychopath Test in Books
Sep 11, 2018
This book is remarkably entertaining – I can see why it’s having such a long stint in the bookseller’s shelves! It’s most definitely written for the lay person, and that goes some way to explaining the book’s longevity.
It logs the course of events taken by Jon Ronson as he interviews some people who are deemed crazy, or psychopathic, and some people who diagnose psychological traits. The start of Ronson’s journey is intriguing - it begins when various academics, predominately neuroscientists, are sent mysterious and cryptic packages. They all rush onto online forums trying to figure out what it’s all about. Unfortunately, this section comes to an abrupt and disappointing conclusion (no spoilers).
This all changes in Chapter 2, however. Here, Ronson meets a man, Tony, who claims to have faked mental illness in order to get put into a psychiatric facility rather than a traditional prison. The Scientologists are on his side, and they send Ronson Broadmoor’s file on Tony, but with significant omissions, which shed a whole new light on why Tony should be incarcerated.
Chapter 3 describes how in the 1960’s psychiatrist Elliot Barker, held several nude LSD-induced psychotherapy sessions for psychopaths. In Chapter 4, Ronson goes on a conference to learn about Bob Hare’s psychopath checklist, and by Chapter 5, he’s using it in an interview with a leader of a death squad, Toto Constant. In Chapter 6, he uses it in an interview with Al Dunlan, who apparently enjoyed firing 6.000 people from their jobs.
Following a brief interlude to discuss the media, conspiracy theorists and the second coming, the theme of psychopathy is picked up again in Chapter 9 which looks at criminal profiling, and how it was once used to lure one particular suspect into an unwarranted arrest.
Ronson goes off on another tangent in Chapter 10, which discusses the (very real) problem of an apparent ballooning of mental illness diagnoses. Here he tells the tale of what happened when a 4-year-old girl was given 10 pills a day for “childhood bipolar” disorder.
In Ronson’s concluding chapter, he attends a tribunal for the Tony of Chapter 2, and Tony’s fate is decided (no spoilers). By this point, Tony’s charisma has got Ronson taken in, in spite of Tony showing several psychopathic traits.
My take away from the book is that people will have eccentricities, diagnosis or not, and the way to tell if someone is dangerous, is by their actions. Ronson himself has spotted psychopathic traits in himself, despite being overly anxious and not the slightest bit evil. The book sheds a lot of light, not only on the nature of obtaining a diagnosis, but also on its implications.
Whilst I do recommend the book, this book is most definitely not a thorough analysis of the mental health industry, nor the criminal profiling industry. But for entertainment purposes it gets top marks. If you are looking for a more authoritative book on the mental health industry and diagnosis, I recommend Saving Normal by Allen Frances.
It logs the course of events taken by Jon Ronson as he interviews some people who are deemed crazy, or psychopathic, and some people who diagnose psychological traits. The start of Ronson’s journey is intriguing - it begins when various academics, predominately neuroscientists, are sent mysterious and cryptic packages. They all rush onto online forums trying to figure out what it’s all about. Unfortunately, this section comes to an abrupt and disappointing conclusion (no spoilers).
This all changes in Chapter 2, however. Here, Ronson meets a man, Tony, who claims to have faked mental illness in order to get put into a psychiatric facility rather than a traditional prison. The Scientologists are on his side, and they send Ronson Broadmoor’s file on Tony, but with significant omissions, which shed a whole new light on why Tony should be incarcerated.
Chapter 3 describes how in the 1960’s psychiatrist Elliot Barker, held several nude LSD-induced psychotherapy sessions for psychopaths. In Chapter 4, Ronson goes on a conference to learn about Bob Hare’s psychopath checklist, and by Chapter 5, he’s using it in an interview with a leader of a death squad, Toto Constant. In Chapter 6, he uses it in an interview with Al Dunlan, who apparently enjoyed firing 6.000 people from their jobs.
Following a brief interlude to discuss the media, conspiracy theorists and the second coming, the theme of psychopathy is picked up again in Chapter 9 which looks at criminal profiling, and how it was once used to lure one particular suspect into an unwarranted arrest.
Ronson goes off on another tangent in Chapter 10, which discusses the (very real) problem of an apparent ballooning of mental illness diagnoses. Here he tells the tale of what happened when a 4-year-old girl was given 10 pills a day for “childhood bipolar” disorder.
In Ronson’s concluding chapter, he attends a tribunal for the Tony of Chapter 2, and Tony’s fate is decided (no spoilers). By this point, Tony’s charisma has got Ronson taken in, in spite of Tony showing several psychopathic traits.
My take away from the book is that people will have eccentricities, diagnosis or not, and the way to tell if someone is dangerous, is by their actions. Ronson himself has spotted psychopathic traits in himself, despite being overly anxious and not the slightest bit evil. The book sheds a lot of light, not only on the nature of obtaining a diagnosis, but also on its implications.
Whilst I do recommend the book, this book is most definitely not a thorough analysis of the mental health industry, nor the criminal profiling industry. But for entertainment purposes it gets top marks. If you are looking for a more authoritative book on the mental health industry and diagnosis, I recommend Saving Normal by Allen Frances.
Sarah (7799 KP) rated The First City in Books
Dec 19, 2017
A great final chapter
This is such a good final chapter in the Dominion trilogy. It’s such a rollercoaster ride throughout, I could barely put it down and it’s very well written. It almost had me in tears towards the end and there are some very good twists and surprises throughout.
My main issue is still with Zoey. She’s grown on me a little in this final book, but I still find her very frustrating at times, doing things that just don’t make sense. I’m also not entirely convinced about the ending of this book, it’s almost a little too happy and fairytale. Although this is just my opinion, as I tend to prefer depressing endings as opposed to happy ones...
My main issue is still with Zoey. She’s grown on me a little in this final book, but I still find her very frustrating at times, doing things that just don’t make sense. I’m also not entirely convinced about the ending of this book, it’s almost a little too happy and fairytale. Although this is just my opinion, as I tend to prefer depressing endings as opposed to happy ones...
Suswatibasu (1702 KP) rated Behind Her Eyes in Books
Jul 27, 2017
That ending...wait until the last chapter
I spent about 90% of the time umming and ah-ing about whether to finish this book or not. Most of the time I felt irritated bordering on bored, or brushing certain elements of it as downright ridiculous. So here's how you should listen to it. It is not a psychological thriller in the conventional sense, parts of it requires suspending all disbelief and just accepting for what it is.
But wait until the last chapter.
And your head will spin 180 degrees to make you realise the past 290 pages was all a fabrication of some sort.
Not a perfect book, could have been a lot shorter, but a very good climax.
But wait until the last chapter.
And your head will spin 180 degrees to make you realise the past 290 pages was all a fabrication of some sort.
Not a perfect book, could have been a lot shorter, but a very good climax.
Kelly Rettie (748 KP) rated The Couple Next Door in Books
Feb 15, 2020
Lots of twists
Contains spoilers, click to show
Started this book and got into it from the first chapter. A couples baby goes missing while they are having dinner at their neighbours. The husbands business is failing and hes desperate for money, and so I thought "okay I know what happened". This book starts you off thinking it's super predictable, but then more twists show all those involved. At the end when the baby is finally home, it appears all is well and a happy ending.... in the last chapter one last twist means no happy ending after all. All in all easy to read and follow, just 300 or so pages of plot twists that make you want to keep reading to get the full truth.
Holy Bible NKJV Offline for iPad
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We are proud and happy to release Holy Bible NKJV in iOS . This app contains both "Old Testament"...
Tamil Bible - Bible2all
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We are proud and happy to release Tamil Bible in iOS for free. This app contains both "Old...
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Big Data in Small Slices: Analysis and Visualization for Journalists and Communications Professionals
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This book covers data vetting and visualization in a vernacular designed for the communications...
AQA A Level Physics Student: Book 1
Nick England, Jeremy Pollard, Nicky Thomas and Carol Davenport
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AQA Approved Expand and challenge your students' knowledge and understanding of Physics with...
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated A Hundred Veils in Books
Sep 6, 2017
Pretty good book
So the book is set at the very beginning of the Iranian Revolution – Marco is an American English teacher who’s come to Iran for a year. While there, he falls in love with his roommate’s cousin. The book is really their love story, while surrounded by political and religious unrest.
The writing is excellent. I’m sure I would get more out of the book if I could read Farsi, as each chapter is begun by a few lines of poetry in Farsi, written in both Arabic script and English letters. But the pacing is perfect, the descriptions apt – I really enjoyed this book.
Read my full review at https://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com/2017/08/22/book-review-a-hundred-veils/
The writing is excellent. I’m sure I would get more out of the book if I could read Farsi, as each chapter is begun by a few lines of poetry in Farsi, written in both Arabic script and English letters. But the pacing is perfect, the descriptions apt – I really enjoyed this book.
Read my full review at https://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com/2017/08/22/book-review-a-hundred-veils/