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arali's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
3.5
Some good points, pretty basic and strayed too far from the thesis for my liking at some parts.
mattiemattie67's review against another edition
2.0
This book is riddled with inaccuracies (it also rhymes a lot, for some reason). I suspected this right off the bat when one of its opening studies was the Stanford Prison experiment, without mentioning any of the controversies surrounding the validity of the experiment. I couldn’t take it seriously anymore when it mentioned the SSN tax situation in the United states without mentioning the timeline of which babies were required to have a SSN in the country.
As a journalist, the author knows the implications of leaving out information so important, even though he is not outright lying. It’s disingenuous. That being said, barring the “facts” in the book, he makes interesting arguments in general about corruption and power.
As a journalist, the author knows the implications of leaving out information so important, even though he is not outright lying. It’s disingenuous. That being said, barring the “facts” in the book, he makes interesting arguments in general about corruption and power.
mostlymuppet's review against another edition
4.0
Less a list of easy answers to a difficult question and more of a treatise on leadership, power, and how best to find good leaders, give them a system where they can lead from a place of service, and ultimately keep them accountable. I read this one in a bunch of bedtime chunks but it’s kind of laid out that way. Tons of good research and memorable anecdotes about leaders good, bad, and ugly.
omikun's review against another edition
5.0
"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
This book explores how power can corrupt at a neuro physiological level, how naive recruitment can draw in corrupt applicants, and what historical solutions has past societies employed to weed out corruption.
It explores the cons of a voting system where the corrupt are most driven to win a popularity contest vs using sortition to create a shadow government. Recruitment needs to be tailored to uncorruptable people, while putting tanks and guns and explosions in a police ad draws in power hungry people who are more likely to be corrupt. The surveillance state is putting the general population under a microscope but those who are in power are more hidden than ever. We need more transparency, or at least the possibility of surveillance on those who are in power so they would be less likely to commit fraud or acts of harmful negligence because they don't see those they rule as thinking, feeling, complex human beings.
This book explores how power can corrupt at a neuro physiological level, how naive recruitment can draw in corrupt applicants, and what historical solutions has past societies employed to weed out corruption.
It explores the cons of a voting system where the corrupt are most driven to win a popularity contest vs using sortition to create a shadow government. Recruitment needs to be tailored to uncorruptable people, while putting tanks and guns and explosions in a police ad draws in power hungry people who are more likely to be corrupt. The surveillance state is putting the general population under a microscope but those who are in power are more hidden than ever. We need more transparency, or at least the possibility of surveillance on those who are in power so they would be less likely to commit fraud or acts of harmful negligence because they don't see those they rule as thinking, feeling, complex human beings.