Kevin Dutton

An analysis of what can be learned from psychopaths incorporates advances in brain scanning and neuroscience to illustrate the scale of mental health that impacts everyone, the role of functional psychopathic behaviors in success, and the misunderstandings that impact treatments.

What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success

The Wisdom of Psychopaths

Nicole Sonja

Definitely a reread sort of book. Especially for those who love to really learn.

Danté

I read this during a time when I was contemplating the primacy of rationality over emotions. I think the book could have done a better job of evenly weighing the cons against the pros of the various social disorders it discusses. I think it over-glorified the abilities that get amplified with psychopathy. It was enjoyable though.

Key takeaways:
- Heroes share many traits with psychopaths (fearlessness, not caring for own safety, ability to execute well under pressure)
- psychopathy is on a scale (rather than being binary)
- functional psychopaths (those who don't end up in prison) do well in obtaining power
- doing triage or high stakes surgery may require a dose of psychopathy to excel (fearlessness, not caring about doing harm). When your life is at stake, you want a psychopath on your side.
- example of Armstrong being cool under pressure with 10 seconds of fuel remaining in moon lander
- example of "unbreakable" special forces soldiers during training, question of "warrior gene"
- debate about the world becoming more psychotic
- psychopaths do have emotions but can turn them on and off depending on the situation at hand. Example of psychopaths under fMRI
- Quote "Psychopathy is like sunlight. Overexposure can hasten one’s demise in grotesque, carcinogenic fashion. But regulated exposure at controlled and optimal levels can have a significant positive impact on well-being and quality of life"

In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a scale of "madness" along which we all sit. Incorporating the latest advances in brain scanning and neuroscience, Dutton demonstrates that the brilliant neurosurgeon who lacks empathy has more in common with a Ted Bundy who kills for pleasure than we may wish to admit, and that a mugger in a dimly lit parking lot may well, in fact, have the same nerveless poise as a titan of industry. Dutton argues that there are indeed "functional psychopaths" among us--different from their murderous counterparts--who use their detached, unflinching, and charismatic personalities to succeed in mainstream society, and that shockingly, in some fields, the more "psychopathic" people are, the more likely they are to succeed. Dutton deconstructs this often misunderstood diagnosis through bold on-the-ground reporting and original scientific research as he mingles with the criminally insane in a high-security ward, shares a drink with one of the world's most successful con artists, and undergoes transcranial magnetic stimulation to discover firsthand exactly how it feels to see through the eyes of a psychopath. As Dutton develops his theory that we all possess psychopathic tendencies, he puts forward the argument that society as a whole is more psychopathic than ever: after all, psychopaths tend to be fearless, confident, charming, ruthless, and focused--qualities that are tailor-made for success in the twenty-first century. Provocative at every turn, The Wisdom of Psychopaths is a riveting adventure that reveals that it's our much-maligned dark side that often conceals the trump cards of success.

Mirella Hetekivi

Groundbreaking, fascinating and super refreshing. Thank you for the destigmatizing and humane perspectives.

Majd

Daniel Voicu

Sandrin

Lokidotter

Sabine sprengers

Alissa Kirchner

Andreea Mone

Bad Girl Bex

Nikolina Lednicki

Psychopath. The word conjurs up images of serial killers, rapists, suicide bombers, gangsters. But think again: you could probably benefit from being a little more psychopathic yourself. Psychologist Kevin Dutton has made a speciality of psychopathy, and is on first-name terms with many notorious killers. But unlike those incarcerated psychopaths, and all those depicted in movies and crime fiction, most are not violent, he explains. In fact, says Prof Dutton, they have a lot of good things going for them. Psychopaths are fearless, confident, charismatic and focused--qualities tailor-made for success in today's society. The Wisdom of Psychopaths is an intellectual rollercoaster ride that combines lightning-hot science with unprecedented access to secret monasteries, Special Forces training camps, and high-security hospitals. In it, you will meet serial killers, war heroes, financiers, movie stars and attorneys--and discover that beneath the hype and popular characterization, psychopaths have something to teach us. Like the knobs on a mixing deck, psychopathy is graded. And finding the right combination of psychopathic traits, sampled and mixed at carefully calibrated volumes, can put us ahead of the game.

The Wisdom of Psychopaths What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success

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