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A review by magup
The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain by James Fallon
1.0
The title should be "The Narcissist's Personal Journey into Cashing in on His Own Self-Indulgence". While maintaining that he has insight into his grandiose and self-centered thought patterns, the author has failed to recognize the degree to which he comes across as a boorish ass. He should have hired an editor to save him from himself---or (heaven forbid) maybe he did do that and the original draft was even worse.
Some of the genetic information discussed borders on interesting, but it is presented poorly and decorated with pseudoscience (Indigo child? Are we trapped in 1989 Mothering Magazine world?)and armchair genealogy typical of the profound narcissist. The end result being that without reading up on the research he is describing, I would not believe his interpretation of any of it.
In our graduate seminar on personality disorders we were taught that the difference between "officially having a personality disorder" and "just being an asshole" is whether the symptoms are having significant negative impact on the person's functioning: ability to form and sustain relationships, ability to support himself, ability to perform activities of daily living as needed by one's station in life, etc. With that framework in mind, and taking at face value Fallon's claims to have good relationships with his wife, children and "thousands" of colleagues, I think it's safe to say he's just an ass. Whether or not he's a psychopath or has a psychopath's genetic profile is irrelevant and rendered uninteresting by the quicksand of his self-involvement. He's a libertarian! No kidding?
Some of the genetic information discussed borders on interesting, but it is presented poorly and decorated with pseudoscience (Indigo child? Are we trapped in 1989 Mothering Magazine world?)and armchair genealogy typical of the profound narcissist. The end result being that without reading up on the research he is describing, I would not believe his interpretation of any of it.
In our graduate seminar on personality disorders we were taught that the difference between "officially having a personality disorder" and "just being an asshole" is whether the symptoms are having significant negative impact on the person's functioning: ability to form and sustain relationships, ability to support himself, ability to perform activities of daily living as needed by one's station in life, etc. With that framework in mind, and taking at face value Fallon's claims to have good relationships with his wife, children and "thousands" of colleagues, I think it's safe to say he's just an ass. Whether or not he's a psychopath or has a psychopath's genetic profile is irrelevant and rendered uninteresting by the quicksand of his self-involvement. He's a libertarian! No kidding?