Nonfiction Navigators discussion

Investigative journalist, Jon Ronson, takes his readers through some of his most memorable moments in his journalism career in “The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry”. Ronson recalls the people and their life-changing stories in his latest novel. Diving deep into the subconscious and talking with experts like Bob Hare, Ronson is able to grasp what it means to be a psychopath. Ronson puts his investigative skills to work and develops an intriguing read educating readers on the mind of a psychopath.
When Ronson begins his journey, he meets a man called Tony who resides in Broadmoor, a mental hospital facility. From this meeting, Ronson gathers that there is frequent misdiagnosis of mental disorders (Ronson). Tony, who has been deemed a psychopath, seems less crazy than most Americans. The human mind and behavior is an extremely complex animal that is hard to grapple with sometimes. The quote on quote “guidelines” for diagnosing a psychopath are very subjective (Ronson). Ronson points this factor out and is wary to try to categorize human behavior based on one “psychopath test” in fear that people like Tony might be misdiagnosed and locked up for life. One of the worst things someone can do is take away an innocent person’s freedom (Ronson).
Not wanting to base his findings off of one subject case, Ronson takes the readers through several more interesting stories of alleged psychopaths. Psychopaths are not just crazy people locked up in jail as many are successful CEOs (Ronson). Ronson does an amazing job keeping the readers on their toes and draws in comparisons between each of the people he interviews making the whole book flow together and fly by. Ronson’s conclusion is that there needs to be a balanced approach when addressing the human mind and behavior so people are not misdiagnosed. The imagery Ronson uses throughout the novel allows readers to feel as if they are witnessing the psychopaths’ stories first hand. It was a very easy read because of this. Readers walk away with a new sense of knowledge and appreciation for the human mind.