There to be Shot at: The Autobiography of Tony Coton
Book
Tony Coton is a natural-born fighter - both on and off the pitch. Rejected by Wolverhampton...
BookblogbyCari (345 KP) rated The Psychopath Test in Books
Sep 11, 2018
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.
Brian Eno recommended Afrodisiac by Fela Ransome-Kuti & The Africa '70 in Music (curated)
Cold As The Grave
Book
Her mummified body is hidden in the dark corner of a basement room, a room which seems to have been...
Mark Jaye (65 KP) rated Iron Man 3 (2013) in Movies
May 21, 2019
Whilst having good memories of this instalment it was better than I recalled. Picking up after the events of 'Avengers Assemble ' we see Tony Stark dealing with PTSD, suffering anxiety and panic attacks. It's interesting to see now - after Endgame, the change in direction for Stark. Here is a man who knows - who has seen, there's greater threats out there. It's the start of what 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' progresses 4 MCU movies later.
The story is straight forward enough. Initially we are led to believe that the villain of the piece is The Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley (or so we presume), the terrorist threat with whom Iron Man goes up against. Half way through we are thrown a twist with the reveal that Kingsley is actually Tony Slattery, an actor in the employ of the real puppet master - Aldrich Lillian (As played by Guy Pearce) who is using the terrorist threat to cover his real agenda....Extremis.
Great action, Acting, Don Cheadle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Iron Man 3 is the best of the trilogy helping to solidify RDJ's status as founding player of this cinematic universe.
British Politics: A Very Short Introduction
Book
Tony Wright's Very Short Introduction to British Politics is an interpretative essay on the British...
Dean (6925 KP) rated Thir13en Ghosts (2001) in Movies
Jun 18, 2018 (Updated Jun 30, 2021)
Veronica Pena (690 KP) rated Dial M for Murder (1954) in Movies
Apr 23, 2020
This is easily one of the most solid Hitchcock films and probably one of the only ones I'd recommend. Watch at your own discretion because I've come to notice that Hitchcock is either-or. You either love him or you hate.
Bad Santa (2003)
Movie Watch
Criminals Willie and Marcus disguise themselves as Santa Claus and his elf and travel across the...
The Blessing Way (Leaphorn & Chee, #1)
Book
From New York Times bestselling author Tony Hillerman, the first novel in his series featuring...