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A review by shrey_sinh
The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success by Kevin Dutton
2.0
The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success
Aristotle observed more than 2,400 years ago - ‘There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.’ Didn’t he, with this quote, refer to the cult saints, the surreptitious spies, and the most disgusting serial killers?
Psychopathy - one of the highly contentious topics of psychology - is not something binary, argues, Kevin Dutton, the author of this book. Rather, it’s most likely a spectrum on which we all lie somewhere. And, counterintuitively, the author suggests, it is a circular spectrum where Buddhist and Zen monks, supposedly having the lowest psychopathic tendencies, sit next to the most gruesome serial killers and rapists.
The author compiles conclusions from a number of studies and face-to-face interviews in this book to suggest that psychopathy is not something as ugly and repulsive as it is presented to be, with serial killers being the poster-boys. There are a number of functional psychopaths lying around us and within us, with the top CEOs and bankers residing somewhere near the serial killers. Contrary to the public opinion (mostly shaped by thriller movies and novels!), the trait of psychopathy, especially the functional one, can be useful in a number of circumstances, one of them being the stock market exchange. Kevin argues that we all can learn from the highly successful functional psychopaths who lead the flock in certain spheres of life, and he tries hard to convince us for the same.
Despite borrowing knowledge from a number of studies conducted by the top research institutions across the globe and one-on-one interactions with successful psychopathic personalities, the author fails to plait the theme in a unifying story. The author fails to keep readers engaged at multiple points in the book. Personally, I feel only a reader interested in learning about psychopathy can make it to the last. With the kind of content available with the author, the arrangement could have been made more interesting. The theme had the potential, but the author failed it.
Still, Kevin Dutton, hits the nail in the right place - ‘Not all criminals are psychopaths and not all psychopaths are criminals.’
Aristotle observed more than 2,400 years ago - ‘There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.’ Didn’t he, with this quote, refer to the cult saints, the surreptitious spies, and the most disgusting serial killers?
Psychopathy - one of the highly contentious topics of psychology - is not something binary, argues, Kevin Dutton, the author of this book. Rather, it’s most likely a spectrum on which we all lie somewhere. And, counterintuitively, the author suggests, it is a circular spectrum where Buddhist and Zen monks, supposedly having the lowest psychopathic tendencies, sit next to the most gruesome serial killers and rapists.
The author compiles conclusions from a number of studies and face-to-face interviews in this book to suggest that psychopathy is not something as ugly and repulsive as it is presented to be, with serial killers being the poster-boys. There are a number of functional psychopaths lying around us and within us, with the top CEOs and bankers residing somewhere near the serial killers. Contrary to the public opinion (mostly shaped by thriller movies and novels!), the trait of psychopathy, especially the functional one, can be useful in a number of circumstances, one of them being the stock market exchange. Kevin argues that we all can learn from the highly successful functional psychopaths who lead the flock in certain spheres of life, and he tries hard to convince us for the same.
Despite borrowing knowledge from a number of studies conducted by the top research institutions across the globe and one-on-one interactions with successful psychopathic personalities, the author fails to plait the theme in a unifying story. The author fails to keep readers engaged at multiple points in the book. Personally, I feel only a reader interested in learning about psychopathy can make it to the last. With the kind of content available with the author, the arrangement could have been made more interesting. The theme had the potential, but the author failed it.
Still, Kevin Dutton, hits the nail in the right place - ‘Not all criminals are psychopaths and not all psychopaths are criminals.’