Introduction by the Blog Author
“The last scan in the pile was strikingly odd. In fact it looked exactly like the most abnormal of the scans I had just been writing about, suggesting that the poor individual it belonged to was a psychopath—or at least shared an uncomfortable amount of traits with one....When I found out who the scan belonged to, I had to believe there was a mistake....But there had been no mistake. The scan was mine.”
For the first fifty-eight years of his life James Fallon was by all appearances a normal guy. A successful neuroscientist and medical school professor, he’d been raised in a loving, supportive family, married his high school sweetheart, and had three kids and lots of friends.
Then he learned a shocking truth that would not only disrupt his personal and professional life, but would lead him to question the very nature of his own identity.
The Psychopath Inside tells the fascinating story of Fallon’s reaction to the discovery that he has the brain of a psychopath. While researching serial murderers, he uncovered a distinct neurological pattern in their brain scans that helped explain their cold and violent behavior. A few months later he learned that he was descended from a family with a long line of murderers which confirmed that Fallon’s own brain pattern wasn’t a fluke.
As a scientist convinced that humans are shaped by their genetics, Fallon set out to reconcile the truth about his brain with everything he knew about the mind, behavior, and the influence of nature vs. nurture on our personalities. How could he, a successful scientist and a happy family man with no history of violence, be a psychopath? How much did his biology influence his behavior? Was he capable of some of the gruesome atrocities perpetrated by the serial killers he had studied?
Combining his personal experience with scientific analysis, Fallon shares his journey and the discoveries that ultimately led him to understand that, despite everything science can teach us, humans are even more complex than we can imagine.
Recently a neuroscientist found out that he himself had strong
psychopathic tendencies. This led to a
labyrinth of self-discovery and personal maturity. Below is a description by Amazon.com of the
book he wrote. That is followed by some
readers’ reviews.
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= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =“The last scan in the pile was strikingly odd. In fact it looked exactly like the most abnormal of the scans I had just been writing about, suggesting that the poor individual it belonged to was a psychopath—or at least shared an uncomfortable amount of traits with one....When I found out who the scan belonged to, I had to believe there was a mistake....But there had been no mistake. The scan was mine.”
For the first fifty-eight years of his life James Fallon was by all appearances a normal guy. A successful neuroscientist and medical school professor, he’d been raised in a loving, supportive family, married his high school sweetheart, and had three kids and lots of friends.
Then he learned a shocking truth that would not only disrupt his personal and professional life, but would lead him to question the very nature of his own identity.
The Psychopath Inside tells the fascinating story of Fallon’s reaction to the discovery that he has the brain of a psychopath. While researching serial murderers, he uncovered a distinct neurological pattern in their brain scans that helped explain their cold and violent behavior. A few months later he learned that he was descended from a family with a long line of murderers which confirmed that Fallon’s own brain pattern wasn’t a fluke.
As a scientist convinced that humans are shaped by their genetics, Fallon set out to reconcile the truth about his brain with everything he knew about the mind, behavior, and the influence of nature vs. nurture on our personalities. How could he, a successful scientist and a happy family man with no history of violence, be a psychopath? How much did his biology influence his behavior? Was he capable of some of the gruesome atrocities perpetrated by the serial killers he had studied?
Combining his personal experience with scientific analysis, Fallon shares his journey and the discoveries that ultimately led him to understand that, despite everything science can teach us, humans are even more complex than we can imagine.
--Amazon.com
Readers’ reviews
Reading
this book is an extraordinary experience. As the author, a brain researcher of
international stature, unpeels his own life and psyche, going deeper and deeper
as the memoir proceeds, something happens to the reader. As he admits to us
some of the most self incriminating thoughts and experiences ever written by a
professional or family man, especially one with such impeccable credentials and
credibility, I found myself examining my own life in a similar way. He subtly
coaxes you into reflecting on your own own motivations. It is a revealing and
for me even freeing read. His personal story is weaved with sophisticated but
remarkably accessible scientific descriptions on the brain, psychiatry,
genetics, and medicine as a whole. I felt like I received the wealth of a year
of advanced science education in just a thoroughly enjoyable three hours it
took me to read it. This guy is a fantastic teacher, and one who may challenge
what you think and feel about your own life.
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5 stars
A unique personal journey
indeed., August 21, 2014
By doug
This
review is from: The Psychopath
Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain
(Hardcover)
Dr Fallon is a skilled
communicator. I knew this first hand because I was once one of his medical
students. Our class voted him our favorite professor due to his uncanny ability
to make the complex simple. It is a delight to find he is providing his
insights and novel perspectives to the general public with this effort.
This examination of how brain anatomy and genes may influence personality is built upon disquieting discoveries the author made about himself in the course of his research into the brain. Jim Fallon's willingness to make personal observations is fearless and that humanizing narrative pulls the reader into the examination of how we become who we are.
The difference between turning out as a distinguished academic (vs axe murderer) is possibly a finer line than medical science had appreciated. The reader is sure to gain useful insights into people they know, and maybe even him- or herself. I am pleased to see my former professor continuing to educate in his entertaining way. Read this book.
This examination of how brain anatomy and genes may influence personality is built upon disquieting discoveries the author made about himself in the course of his research into the brain. Jim Fallon's willingness to make personal observations is fearless and that humanizing narrative pulls the reader into the examination of how we become who we are.
The difference between turning out as a distinguished academic (vs axe murderer) is possibly a finer line than medical science had appreciated. The reader is sure to gain useful insights into people they know, and maybe even him- or herself. I am pleased to see my former professor continuing to educate in his entertaining way. Read this book.
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5.0
out of 5 stars Welcome to the club.
The bad news and the good news., August 13, 2014
By Modesty
Press "(Vanity Press)" (Puget Sound )
This
review is from: The Psychopath
Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain
(Hardcover)
Welcome to the club. The bad news
and the good news.
We are in a very strange period of human evolution. We are beginning to understand how our brain functions as humans never have before. We are living longer and longer, we are solving problems that have tormented humanity for millennia, yet as fast as we solve problems, we create new ones.
We are the only animals on our planet with full self-awareness and knowledge of our own mortality. We are the only animals with a sense of “right and wrong,” which we refer to as ethics or morality. Nature has no sense of morality. My wife and I live in the woods on an island inPuget Sound .
Occasionally I see an eagle or hawk or owl snatch a bunny or squirrel and
consume it. The eagle swoops; the bunny hides and runs; neither thinks this is
right or wrong. It's just nature. Only human beings say “Don't murder, torture,
rape; help out people less fortunate.” (sometimes as they performing these very
“sinful” actions they ostensibly oppose). I am a life long atheist; if you
consider yourself a good person (and probably you are, most of the time)
because of Jesus or whatever, “good on you,”
As far as I can tell, the reason most of us behave reasonably well most of the time is that we possess a feature in our nervous system called “empathy.” I have felt pain; I am reluctant to inflict pain. If I see someone in pain, I am impelled to relieve their suffering if I can.
About 1% of human beings lack empathy. We call these people psychopaths/sociopaths. Some of them are very bad people, who kill other human beings because it satisfies desires or because it is amusing and entertaining to do so. The vast majority of “paths” are not killers; they just steal, seduce, and torment for similar reasons. Some people do bad things for other reasons. Sometimes people do them out of desperation. My family had a car stolen from right in front of our house once; when we recovered the vehicle we learned that the thieves were a desperate homeless couple. I have also had at least three serious run-ins with non-violent psychopaths during my life time. Two were bosses (one a high administrator of a large, much admired public library system); #3 was a long-time ecological cult leader and career swindler, whom my wife and I defeated in an immense civil trial – proxy for a criminal trial – that went to the Oregon Supreme Court.. All three of these “paths” fooled me (and many others) completely. “Paths” can be very, very dangerous people.
I found this book fascinating, well written, and to the extent I could evaluate the rather technical scientific information included, accurate and persuasive. I have a personal reason for liking the book rather similar to the author's for writing it. He recognizes that he is a psychopath by a “blind test” of his brain scan. That's the “bad news.” The “good news” is that because of fortunate events in his childhood and upbringing he learned how to avoid his “genetic doom” (the murderous trail of psychopathic murders in his genealogical record going back to King John (the psychopathic king of England who unwillingly signed the Magna Carta). There is bad stuff in my psychopath make up as well. I doubt that I am a “full out” psychopath (I have some empathy) but I am a relatively “cool and unemotional” person whose psyche vibrates with some resonance with psychopath harmonies. Your mileage may vary.
We are in a very strange period of human evolution. We are beginning to understand how our brain functions as humans never have before. We are living longer and longer, we are solving problems that have tormented humanity for millennia, yet as fast as we solve problems, we create new ones.
We are the only animals on our planet with full self-awareness and knowledge of our own mortality. We are the only animals with a sense of “right and wrong,” which we refer to as ethics or morality. Nature has no sense of morality. My wife and I live in the woods on an island in
As far as I can tell, the reason most of us behave reasonably well most of the time is that we possess a feature in our nervous system called “empathy.” I have felt pain; I am reluctant to inflict pain. If I see someone in pain, I am impelled to relieve their suffering if I can.
About 1% of human beings lack empathy. We call these people psychopaths/sociopaths. Some of them are very bad people, who kill other human beings because it satisfies desires or because it is amusing and entertaining to do so. The vast majority of “paths” are not killers; they just steal, seduce, and torment for similar reasons. Some people do bad things for other reasons. Sometimes people do them out of desperation. My family had a car stolen from right in front of our house once; when we recovered the vehicle we learned that the thieves were a desperate homeless couple. I have also had at least three serious run-ins with non-violent psychopaths during my life time. Two were bosses (one a high administrator of a large, much admired public library system); #3 was a long-time ecological cult leader and career swindler, whom my wife and I defeated in an immense civil trial – proxy for a criminal trial – that went to the Oregon Supreme Court.. All three of these “paths” fooled me (and many others) completely. “Paths” can be very, very dangerous people.
I found this book fascinating, well written, and to the extent I could evaluate the rather technical scientific information included, accurate and persuasive. I have a personal reason for liking the book rather similar to the author's for writing it. He recognizes that he is a psychopath by a “blind test” of his brain scan. That's the “bad news.” The “good news” is that because of fortunate events in his childhood and upbringing he learned how to avoid his “genetic doom” (the murderous trail of psychopathic murders in his genealogical record going back to King John (the psychopathic king of England who unwillingly signed the Magna Carta). There is bad stuff in my psychopath make up as well. I doubt that I am a “full out” psychopath (I have some empathy) but I am a relatively “cool and unemotional” person whose psyche vibrates with some resonance with psychopath harmonies. Your mileage may vary.
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Afterword by the Blog Author
The reviews of this book are worth looking at, especially the
strong minority that ranks it as only one or two stars. There’s an element of personal anger in those
antagonistic reviews.
I want to speculate on that anger, because it is so
unreasonable and so consistent between different angry reviewers. If a man with the brain of a psychopath acts
normal, then it means that nurture remains important and it also argues very
strongly for free will. That’s important
because there is a faux-scientific attack on the legal system and on criminal
confinement stemming entirely from the wholly intellectual notion that
criminals can’t help but commit crimes and that therefore they aren’t in charge
of their own motives and intents, and that therefore they aren’t guilty of
anything.
But if someone with the same twisted brain wiring can lead a
normal life, that explodes the argument.
And they hate that, do these dissing reviewers, and they objectify that
hatred through personal attack, because they
need to defend their own construct against an astonishing yet true case
history.
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