Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Another busy day today. I woke up at 5:30 a.m., did some writing, worked from 9-2 at Varinsky, then came home and napped for an hour before writing some more, emailing one query, eating dinner, and writing this review:
Another busy day today. I woke up at 5:30 a.m., did some writing, worked from 9-2 at Varinsky, then came home and napped for an hour before writing some more, emailing one query, eating dinner, and writing this review:
Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend by Barbara OakleyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A year or so after finishing Evil Genes, I've come to believe this may be one of the most important and helpful nonfiction books I've ever read. I say this because it has clarified my understanding of human behavior that defies explanation or any sense of empathy or humanity. We have an estimated 12 million sociopaths running around in American society, and the system, in a bizarre, dehumanized sort of way, favors their unlimited capacity for money, attention, power, success and adulation. Perhaps the most important take-away from this fascinating, important book is this: sociopaths are charming! They have a way of winning us over! But watch how these chaos creators and machiavells manipulate and control the boundaries of common sense, transforming their "noble causes" and "beliefs" into greedy, self-serving nonsense. No one dares call out these so-called leaders (politicians, CEOs, etc.) as the personality types their actions and behavior suggest, and yet, if everyone took the time to read Evil Genes and other books like this one, we might actually have a fighting chance against human beings who are wired so differently from the rest of us. These sociopaths cannot change their capacity for chaos and destruction. They will always have followers. They will never stop fighting for and fueling their own narcissistic impulses. We owe it to ourselves to be more aware of their charming, luring, destructive behavior. This book helps pinpoint such deceptive, frightening behavior. Thank you, Barbara Oakley, for bringing the tendencies of these personality types to light.
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Talked to Chris tonight from 8-9:30. Now off to bed.
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