This was really great in what it goes through to explain bad things in the world and how evil acts come about. Who does them , who has done them in the past, i.e., My Lai in Vietnam. It added to my understanding of the world in a way no textbook ever could.

I think this book is really interesting. It was recommended to me a long time ago, but I never read it because I was intimidated by the premise. I thought it would be about the most awful and twisted things that people do, but it's really not like that at all. A psychiatrist examines (in a very logical and scientific way) the idea that evil is a measurable and real force in the world, and seeks to define it in a meaningful and useful way. Several case studies are examined- none of them grisly. It was actually really thought provoking, because the people he describes I feel like anyone might know. For me the first and maybe best take away was that you should clue into your intuition about people more, especially the ones who leave you feeling confused or repulsed. I feel like it's a worthwhile read for anyone who often finds themselves trying to understand people and their motivations, or in general are interested in theology or psychology.

It's been a while since I read this book, but I thought it was very strong and insightful.

It explores the nature of narcissism and the people who inflict it on you.

Again, this sounds paranoid! But, people who do care about others can be hurt terribly by people who can only see the world from their own point of view.

Peck explains how people like this function, how to identify them, and he gives narratives about narcissists he has dealt with to help underscore the types of behavior that they commit. The narratives, are, of course, the easiest to remember - like the parents whose oldest son committed suicide. A year after his death, they gave their youngest son the gun the boy used to kill himself. They couldn't understand why that youngest son became depressed.

They couldn't because, as narcissists, they only thing they can understand is their own world, their own experiences, their own cares. They do not and will never truly empathize with another person, and there is -- surprisingly -- no saving them. There is no point in working with them; we must simply understand that they are incapable of anything besides feeling all and only what they feel.

Peck's descriptions of these people is different from what I expected. His chapter on exorcisms was strange for me, but I saw his point - it helped illuminate how people do care about what they do and about others even in the midst of evil.

This book helped me be able to identify people who could hurt me, and I appreciate that a great deal.

This is possibly the worst book about psychology I have ever read. For reference, I have a Master's degree in psychology. This will be a lengthy review because I have a LOT of thoughts.

Firstly, this book is not scientific so much as it is a very overdramatic sense of moral superiority packaged as pseudoscience. From the very first chapter "Handle with Care", Peck begins painting this picture of a horrifyingly dangerous phenomenon, evil, that he can't even properly define. There is no sense of how he would even try to investigate this phenomenon empirically, and his definitions are vague at best and completely paradoxical at worst.

Secondly, you will get an overload of Freudian psychoanalytical nonsense in this book. I'm not saying that the psychoanalytic perspective is devoid of merit, but when you begin suggesting that maybe it would be a good idea to sleep with your patient to give her the "mothering" she clearly desires in her unconscious, all those merits fly right out of the window. Seriously, I have no idea how this man was allowed to practice as a therapist. The ethics were beyond questionable from the start in telling George that he's a coward who has sold his soul to the devil, but it got worse and worse and worse.

Thirdly, I shouldn't even have to say this, but science is objective. It's one thing to use religion as a source of strength for a client who relies upon faith in times of crisis, it is another thing to force religion down the throat of anyone you treat and go on about how they should probably have an exorcism. I cannot even describe the amount of furious scribbling I did in the margins of this book because of how completely ridiculous it is.

Lastly, and most importantly, there is a fundamental issue with essentially equating mental illness with "evil." Anyone who thinks this has no business working in this field. If Dr. Peck took a moment to get off his moral high horse and stop condescending to and infantilizing his patients, he might see that every person is a combination of good and bad actions, but that bad actions do not make an evil person. I work with individuals who are incarcerated, many of whom Dr. Peck would probably label as evil. They are not. They are people. As Bryan Stevenson says, we are all more than the worst thing we have ever done. I could go on and on about this atrocious book, but I really don't want to spend any more mental energy on it.

If I had rolled my eyes one more time while reading this, I think they would have fallen straight out of my head. Zero stars.