The Psychopath Test By Jon Ronson

“There are journalists and novelists and he is not the latter…..”

From the author of “The Men Who Stare At Goats” comes a journey into the world of the mind, madness and self possession. “The Pyschopath Test” begins with an investigation into “Being or Nothingness”, a handmade work which has been circulated worldwide through academic communities. Through sleuthing its origins, Ronson makes two important connections: with Bob Hare, the creator of the definitive questionnaire for diagnosing psychopaths and with Brian Daniels, a Scientologist who is interested in using him to help debunk psychiatry. From these experiences, Ronson becomes a psychopath spotter and his sleuthing across the globe results in encounters with a bunch of eccentrics; Petter Nordlund, the enigmatic author of the mysterious text, Hare, former LSD fuelled patients of Canadian Criminally Insane establishments, and "Tony", a “faking” psychopath housed in Broadmoor.  Ronson’s pursuit of pyschopaths leads him to explore whether psychopaths dominate corporate hierarchies, through his encounter with Al Dunlap, the Gordon Gekko Sunbeam, who toasted many employees of that corporation and consider the worlds of espionage through the life of David Shayler, spy-cum-activist- transvestite-and quasi messiah, and clinical psychology, through the eyes of Paul Britton, the criminal profiler who wrongfully attributed the murder of a woman on an innocent man.

Through his tale Ronson’s objective is to demonstrate how imperfect and imprecise psychiatry and psychology has been at mapped the shifting sands of sanity (coined by one reviewer) –but his methodology, which is to take his own neurotic persona and use its self-examination as a yardstick against which to judge the psychoses and personality disorders of the seriously disturbed, didn’t really fit the purpose. The BBC agreed with this assessment. Dennis, believed that the book was written to produce a bestseller, not a book that explored the issues in depth and with meaning, “there are journalists and novelists, and he (Ronson) is not the latter..’’ We agreed that many interesting and salient points were raised, but felt that the book did not go anywhere. Andy disliked the book and felt that it was merely a bundle of threads, which failed miserably in its attempts to be woven into a rich tapestry. Kevin, who had chosen the book from seeing interviews with the author (namely QI), found the book accessible and easy to read, but at times alarming. Mark, thought it merely pop psychology and more suited to airport reading. Raj disputed the claims of corporate psychopathy, as emotional intelligence is the recognized ticket to corporate hierarchical success and found it ultimately unsatisfying. Leanne, based her assessment from other Ronson works, and found the author’s style shallow and self possessed. And Alena liked the pizza.

Scores for this month’s venture on Victoria Street:
Andy 3
Kevin 7.5
Mark 5
Dennis: 4.5
Raj: 4
Alena: 7
Average: 5 (neither here nor there).

Thanks to the delectable hosting K and R and woof from Rex.