Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1294523 in Books
• Published on: 1988-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 471 pages

Customer Reviews

Inspirational book
I recently read a book by Andrzej Lobaczewski called 'Political Ponerology'. It gave an astounding insight into the role of psychopaths on a macroscale. It led me to this book which looks specifically on the subject of how these people tick.

It deals in depth and with great heart with the subject of psychopath or rather people with psychopathic personality disorder. It is ample with examples from the author's own professional experience as a psychiatrist of behaviours of psychopaths, and gives insight into a phenomena that needs to be understood as the world is suffering due largely to lack of knowledge in this area.

Yes, that sounds dramatic, but when you understand that some people (~4%) don't have what we know of as conscience then you may start to see how the world could get into the state it is in.

These people have no conscience as a restraining factor in life and thus procede towards positions of money and power with a ruthless efficacy that is largely undetected as we don't consider it possible that people would behave like that. We find them in leader positions in politics, the corporate world and religious movements to mention a few. The costs to society and the affects on normal people is devastating, which is why this book is recommended for everyone.

Hervey Checkley's gives a great understanding of how these people function and also how come even professional people can be taken in by them. Like the book says they carry a mask of sanity and only careful observation over time gives the clues that something is amiss.

Still Worth Reading
Some say Cleckley is outdated. I say "Never"! Cleckley doesn't deal in his book with hardened criminals or serial killers, but rather the kinds of psychopaths that wandered into his practice. For this reason, there are no heinous crimes to distract or any anger to make us turn away, but rather we can observe with a more detached curiosity and learn a lot about the nature of psychopaths.Pat Brown/Director/Investigative Criminal Profiler/The Sexual Homicide Exchange, Inc.

A book good enough to have a permanent place on my shelves.
Fascinating study of the psychopathic (now called sociopathic) personality. Well written in a style that's easy to read. Many case studies, some funny, most tragic, of people who behave as though they grew up on Mars! The title refers to the fact that these people wear a "mask of sanity," but are in fact insane. Or at least, unsane. I recommend the book highly.