A review by skullfullofbooks
The Forensic Psychology of Criminal Minds by Katherine Ramsland

3.0

I just don't see why people are disappointed about this book not being centered around Criminal Minds. It's the forensic psychology OF Criminal Minds, not the forensic psychology AND Criminal Minds. This isn't some book padded with extras from the show- you'll actually learn something if you read it.

You get explanations about serial killers, psychopaths, and a lot of details about specific real life cases. You do also get the tie-ins with Criminal Minds cases and episodes, but the book is based mainly on teaching the average viewer about the basis for the show Criminal Minds. My lack of enjoyment probably stems from knowing a lot of the information to begin with, since I'm a Criminology and Criminal Justice major with a minor in Psychology, so the more general information was skim-worthy for me. If you don't know a lot about the profiling and forensic psychology fields, then this is a great book. It doesn't read like a textbook and is pretty interesting once you get to the cases.

I'd recommend this to someone who has seen Criminal Minds and is thinking that they want to go into a job like that, but obviously wants more information. Anyone who is wondering what the profiling field is all about, or where reality meets the Criminal Minds world would enjoy this too.