THE PSYCHOPATH TEST by Jon Ronson

A Journey Through the Madness Industry

In this madcap journey (on sale May 12, 2011), a bestselling journalist investigates psychopaths and the industry of doctors, scientists, and everyone else who studies them.

The Psychopath Test is a fascinating journey through the minds of madness. Jon Ronson's exploration of a potential hoax being played on the world's top neurologists takes him, unexpectedly, into the heart of the madness industry. An influential psychologist who is convinced that many important CEOs and politicians are, in fact, psychopaths teaches Ronson how to spot these high-flying individuals by looking out for little telltale verbal and nonverbal clues. And so Ronson, armed with his new psychopath-spotting abilities, enters the corridors of power. He spends time with a death-squad leader institutionalized for mortgage fraud in Coxsackie, New York; a legendary CEO whose psychopathy has been speculated about in the press; and a patient in an asylum for the criminally insane who insists he's sane and certainly not a psychopath.

Ronson not only solves the mystery of the hoax but also discovers, disturbingly, that sometimes the personalities at the helm of the madness industry are, with their drives and obsessions, as mad in their own way as those they study. And that relatively ordinary people are, more and more, defined by their maddest edges.

Follow Jon Ronson on Twitter: @JonRonson
www.jonronson.com/

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Jon Ronson
• The Psychopath Test
• Psychopaths
• Madness
• Nonfiction
• Riverhead
• The Men Who Stare At Goats
• Reporter

[LovinAlPacino]

The first sign of a psychopath is a person who focuses on others' physical appearance above all else, e.g. the teeth, or hair.

[TheCosmicMicrowave]

Whenever I talk to psycologists, I feel as if they are judging me :(...

[gwap360]

there is a difference between a psychopaths and sociopaths

[LovinAlPacino]

@und3rM0 Well, I get noticing teeth, or whatever. We all do that and have our preferences. I never understood rejecting someone due to a difference like that, especially one they have no control over.

I admit I have my own (certifiable?) quirks. I'd tell you what they are, but then I'd be up for two days organizing and reorganizing the linen closet and underwear drawer so the sun doesn't supernova ;)

[act318]

lol good job creating an owen wilson avatar!

[und3rM0]

@LovinAlPacino

Im not a psychopath, but what you wrote did describe me when i was really young.

People with bad teeth were rejected. As a child i really hated people with crooked teeth! But people with nice teeth like myself, i never had braces for the record - i could accept.

I only applied this principle on people at my age.

I still focus on peoples teeth and yes i am shallow. But im not a psychopath. :)

[ilovyousob]

load of tosh

[WeatherMaNhq]

So if you wear a pinstriped suit you are a psychopath.

[AurynThePaladin]

@LovinAlPacino Can't tell if trolling...

*edit* ohh you're talking about the man's hair/teeth in the video. LOL I was typing out this long-ass reply about how everyone focuses on those things blah blah. I got /whooshed!

[shtakett]

@LAEXCITOSAAPARECIDA have you seen superbowl show? "Brilliant" job

[mrmagicroundcircle]

is it true

[LeoHwzrChannel]

Well... just cause i romanticize murder and going on a violent rampage [in my head] does not mean i have the drive to do it or else id lose my modest luxury of video games, internet porn, funny videos, and online comic books