Jon Ronson, who penned the popular The Men Who Stare at Goats, covers similar terrain in his new book The Psychopath Test. However, rather than investigating madness at the heart of the US military's programs, he searches for madness in the form of psychopathic personality disorder as located in various maximum-security psychiatric hospitals and private homes throughout the UK and US. Armed with the diagnostic criteria devised by renowned criminal psychologist Dr Robert Hare, Ronson sets out to ascertain whether certain notorious individuals are likely to be psychopaths.

While highly readable, early on in the book I found myself sceptical as to the merit of Ronson's ‘investigation’. This is largely owing to his conversational writing style, the anecdotal material he relies on and the sensational aspects of the subject matter. However, this book is not intended to be a rigorously researched sociological text. Instead it is the work of a populist journalist attempting to ignite the curiosity of the layreader as to the nature of psychopathic personality disorder and the potentially detrimental effects such individuals (who lack empathy and a conscience) may have on society when given free reign in positions of power and influence.

Further into the book Ronson is careful to admit that it is all too easy to attach erroneous labels to people and that some of the diagnostic criteria are so general that they could apply to almost anyone. For example, a ‘grandiose sense of self-worth’, ‘shallow affect’, and a ‘failure to accept responsibility for own actions’ are deemed to be a few of the traits of the psychopath. Yet, in the absence of other more dangerous traits such as ‘poor behavioural controls’ for example, they could equally be used to identify the narcissistic personality which I imagine is much more prevalent in society. Worth a read.

Luisa Childs is from Readings Carlton.