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Jon Ronson

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry Hardcover – May 12, 2011

by Jon Ronson (Author)

3,714 ratings

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In this madcap journey, 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.

Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Riverhead Books
Publication date

May 12, 2011
Dimensions

5.75 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

1594488010
ISBN-13

978-1584505808
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Because of Ronson’s relentless self-deprecation and goofy, British humor, it’s easy to tag along without fully realizing the rigor of his reporting, which is itself frenzied with compulsive questioning and obsessive research.” -- The Boston Globe

“A rollicking, page-turner of a book... no ordinary piece of investigative journalism… Ronson’s storytelling skills are strong enough to enliven even the necessary reflections that would be one yawn after another if entrusted to a lesser writer.” -- San Francisco Chronicle

“…A book that manages to be as cheerily kooky as it is well-researched.” -- Los Angeles Times

“Engagingly irreverent…” -- New York Times

“[A] fascinating and humane book…” -- Washington Post Book World

“…Both terrifying and hilarious.” -- O, The Oprah Magazine

About the Author

Jon Ronson’s works include The Amazing Adventures of Phoenix Jones, and Them: Adventures with Extremists and The Men Who Stare at Goats—both international bestsellers. The Men Who Stare at Goats was as a major motion picture, released in 2009 and starring George Clooney. Ronson lives in London.

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Product details

Publisher : Riverhead Books (May 12, 2011)
Language : English
Hardcover : 288 pages
ISBN-10 : 1594488010
ISBN-13 : 978-1584505808
Item Weight : 15.2 ounces
Dimensions : 5.75 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #981,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #331 in Popular Psychology Mental Illness Books
- #489 in Medical Psychology History
- #492 in Psychologist Biographies

Customer Reviews:
3,714 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		62%
4 star		22%
3 star		10%
2 star		4%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Bill Weaver

A shallow dive in a deep pool

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is an enjoyable book and hard to put down but also an easy read so pay as little as you can for it. One gets the feeling especially in this internet age that most of the information (aside from the author's own telling of how his own discovery unfolds) is available elsewhere and perhaps from more authoritative and complete sources. If you are looking for a nice rundown of additional sources and themes for further study (which I was) this is a feature of the book. Nonetheless, also for this reason, perhaps I was expecting too much. The book is admittedly a "subtle" critique as the author suggests he is aiming for on page 64 when he describes his desire on at least one topic to plant "doubt into the prose[.]" We can see he does not in any way come right out and call L. Ron Hubbard a "crackpot" and he finds the Scientologists to be very helpful but... perhaps he is holding back his true feelings, and sometimes he shows us this very clearly and other times he does not. Though he plays at being open and honest with the reader, I am somewhat skeptical of his ability to walk the fine line between truth and honesty at all times, and perhaps so is he. He sets up a code or a joke at the beginning and then he plays upon it in a variety of ways, on a variety of subjects, and its particular charm is that its construction encourages one to create patterns where perhaps none exist, and that is at least one point of the book. We all have our own little obsessions, but of course they don't usually end in random acts of violence or corporate crime. Psychopaths could be the key to a true understanding of modern society. Or they could not be. I think Foucault also wrote a little book about the madness industry, didn't he? Or at least its early days. Modernity is in full swing now. Mr. Ronson finds himself afraid of both psychopaths and lawsuits. A very modern type of fear. Or at least anxiety. Perhaps this is what he is really getting at. I found his excessive discussions of his own anxieties a bit tiresome in places, but I have not read any of his other books and perhaps this is his shtick that his regular audience enjoys. The bit about journalists and their own obsessions reminded me of Fatal Vision and its related controversies, which are also discussed much in other sources. I was a bit surprised he didn’t at least mention them. I was also surprised that though he spends a great deal of time dealing with LSD experiments on psychopaths in Canadian asylums, and he also mentions while discussing L. Ron Hubbard the CIA mind control experiments with LSD, he does not touch upon the Canadian connection here as well with MK Ultra. I suppose at times the book feels like a collection of missed opportunities for the author to go deeper. He quips at one point that bloggers write a lot because they aren’t getting paid for it, and maybe his regular audience is made up of people who really enjoy his light (“subtle”) touch, but I personally wished he would have spread his net much wider and deeper, as the rich source material seems to invite. He makes a lot of good points. One can’t really argue with him. He seems entirely reasonable and not at all taken by conspiracy or fear mongering. Mass media, as he points out, does seem to pay more attention to certain types of madness and this critique of his is perhaps the most powerful in the book. This type of media/social system confirmation bias makes the most sense intuitively and has also been studied intensely and at length by numerous academics and other social critics. Simply put, terrorists would throw roses, if only they could get attention that way. It can be difficult to know whom to trust these days and the book paints a still somewhat comfortable picture of modern paranoia. The author navigates these waters with skill, especially in the bit with the Scientologists. But most of all, I’m wondering what became of Tony, the psychopath who faked it ‘til he made it. Tony is not his real name, the author makes clear, and we learn also that Mr. Ronson is not allowed to discuss what was said at a certain hearing concerning Tony’s fate. Most of us would rather stay far outside the reach of such a person. Tony could be your neighbor, the person sitting next to you at the pub, or someone walking down the street towards you under the soft glow of streetlamps one quiet summer’s eve, but probably not the executive of a major corporation, which is some consolation. Tony’s crime was vicious but it only affected one person, not the populations of entire towns where factories were shut down by a brutal CEO and the cold calculation of “P/E on Nxt FY”. Certainly as the book makes clear psychiatry and psychology evolve like all science and other systems of communication. The paradox of science is that its coded truth changes over time. As the book suggests, the collision between capitalism and science here has led to some abuses. The opioid epidemic seems to be another example. Let’s hope at least that we don’t devolve back to the glory days of the sixties and seventies, when LSD served to psychopaths and feces smeared on the walls were considered good fun, or at least good therapy.

34 people found this helpful

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Teresa K. King

Psychopathy Test

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2019

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The test was only covered in one portion of the book, more towards the end. Posed as a list with minimal examples of the categories. If this was the “title”, then I expected it to be the focus. You know that old “main idea” stuff that you learned in elementary school. I read and read, trying to “get into the book” but just couldn’t. I found myself lost and bored and skimming. It was not answering my questions. I did not like the introductory story that went on and on about the mysterious letter and book. The solution to that riddle was a let down. It did not take much to solve that, especially if you have dealt with someone that is possibly a Sociopath. These people “get a rise” out of mocking others and being “cryptic” and then acting as if others are just “stupid”. Their outlook is that they are superior to all others and no matter what, you owe them. Heaven forbid something go wrong because then it is all your fault even though you were not even around when it happened. They will destroy your life, if you allow them. I expected more from this book.

20 people found this helpful

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S Huston

And just who is the psychopath?

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

The author of this book or the reader? This as a trip down a road I was not expecting, intriguing and leaving me wondering if I had met any of these off the wall folks in my lifetime. I take that back, I had met one for certain who is as manipulative as they come and who seemed to delight in controlling people in the extreme. And of all professions, they worked in a hospice! I have known this person for fifty years and have never trusted them, and now I have a better understanding as to why. And heavens no, it is not my spouse!

20 people found this helpful

Helpful

Highly Recommend - insightful and fascinating

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is my first reading on this topic. I am in the middle of the book at the moment, but couldn't resist to write the review! The book is just AMAZING: easy reading (almost like a fiction), full of fascinating facts and exciting stories. It's doesn't go too much in a details, but whenever I am interesting I just google more (and even already put on my reading list several more detailed books). The author doesn't over-complicate it (since he is a journalist, not a psychiatrist), no crazy terminology. FANTASTIC book!

24 people found this helpful

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Seth Greenwood

One of my favorites!

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2017

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Throughout the entirety of this book you get to see Jon go through different phases of belief. He was extremely honest in admitting his thoughts and also admitting when those thought might have changed. This was not just a book to persuade you of someone's opinion, but rather, it was an objective account of someone seeking their own answers to be persuaded one way or another. In the end we find that almost everyone admits that the madness industry is not as concrete as they would want to believe it is. We love to label, and classify. We see it every day. But none of us really think about the grey areas. I would recommend this book as a tool to anyone with an interest in understanding both arguments of the "sane" and "insane". This book alone would not be sufficient evidence to persuade you one way of another, (both sides are equally covered) but it's a fantastic supplement to generate thought.

20 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

S. MatthewsWallace

Mental illness is not funny

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 27, 2019

Verified Purchase

A little learning is a dangerous thing! This book was recommended to me and, I have to say, I was sorely disappointed. I don’t find humour in mental illness and Ronson’s often confusing and waffly accounts. I wonder how much of Ronson’s writing has become a cult book; will “they” think I’m weird if I state I didn’t enjoy it.
As a teacher of 49 years I have genuinely seen a frightening increase in mental illness across all key stages of education (and I would NEVER class ASD as a mental illness) and it is not remotely funny.
Give me an Oliver Sack’s book any day!

34 people found this helpful

Jodi Barrett

Wonderful! This is a must for people who enjoy both Jon Ronson and Psychopathy!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

Jon Ronson, as always, takes us on a very thrilling ride throughout this novel. As a psychology student the title caught my eye and I knew that I'd enjoy it, but I was not expecting to love it the way I did. The way Ronson delves into the mental health industry, not shying away from uncomfortable topics leaves the readers hooked. Ronson explores psychopathy, speaking to speculated psychopaths and those who diagnose them, which ultimately has us all asking (himself included) where the line can be drawn when diagnosing something as complex as this. Very, very insightful and enjoyable!

30 people found this helpful

Paul Symonds

Left me rather cold

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 27, 2020

Verified Purchase

Not sure what to make of this book. Perhaps I did not appreciate Ronson's humour. Perhaps he was joking when he said that after attending a course on psychopaths, he could not help spotting them, or thinking so-and-so was one. But this is just the problem: like a religious cult, once you've been indoctrinated in some theory, you never question and blindly accept it. It all seemed too simplistic to me.

11 people found this helpful

Folk Friend - Celtic Guitar Tutorials

Brilliant!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2018

Verified Purchase

Ronson's writing reads more like a travel tale crossed with an easy-read thriller than a psychology book. That is not at all a detractor from this title, as its content is both fascinating and wittily presented. I read it in a day and had a great time doing so! For a book whose main purpose is obviously to entertain it also contains a lot of interesting insight into the worlds of psychology and neuroscience, presented in a way which everyone (no matter their knowledge or background) can enjoy and a damning review of the pharmaceutical industry and aspects of public perception of mental health which very much need to be more widely heard. A great book all round.

10 people found this helpful

Spike42

Changed my thinking

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 18, 2018

Verified Purchase

I don't often stay with books, but this one really gripped into wanting to read it in one go. In parts worrying, it forced me to think about what is normal and who is really made.
I will never watch Jeremy Kyle again...at least not without thinking more humanely about the participants.

12 people found this helpful

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