THE PSYCHOPATH TEST: JON RONSON

A Journey Through the Madness Industry

U.S. Edition

U.K. Edition

What if society wasn’t fundamentally rational, but was motivated by insanity?  This thought sets Jon Ronson on an utterly compelling adventure into the world of madness.  Along the way, he meets psychopaths, those whose lives have been touched by madness and those whose job it is to diagnose it, including the influential psychologist who developed the Psychopath Test, from whom Jon learns the art of psychopath-spotting:  A skill which seemingly reveals that madness could indeed be at the heart of everything.

Combining Ronson’s trademark humour, charm and investigative incision, The Psychopath Test is both entertaining and honest, unearthing dangerous truths and asking serious questions about how we define normality in a world where we are increasingly judged by our maddest edges.

Jon Ronson. Photo: Barney Poole

Jon Ronson is an award-winning writer and documentary maker. He is the author of two bestsellers: Them: Adventures with Extremists and The Men Who Stare at Goats, and two collections, Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness and What I Do: More True Tales.

He lives in New York.

EXCERPT

“Who’s that?” I asked James.

“Essi Viding,” he said.

“What does she study?” I asked.

“Psychopaths,” said James.

I peered in at Essi.  She spotted us, smiled and waved.

“That must be dangerous” I said.

I heard a story about her once said James.  She was interviewing a psychopath.  She showed him a picture of a frightened face and asked him to identify the emotion.  He said he didn’t know what the emotion was but it was the face people pulled just before he killed them.”

Will Self Review in The Guardian

Rachel Cooke review in The Observer

Review in The Independent

Jon Ronson on Wikipedia