WHAT TO MAKE OF OUR MAD WORLD

Psychopath's Test Jon Ronson There is only one normal response to the sight of a man who has just been shot in the face at close range. A photograph of this grisly scene should inspire distress signals in the amygdalae and central nervous system, and jangled feelings of fear, guilt and remorse. That is, unless you are a psychopath. Among such rogues, the same picture may evoke curiosity, even titillation. The brains of psychopaths are wired differently from yours and mine. They are free of empathy or remorse. More troublingly, they seem to be beyond repair.

Though psychopaths make up perhaps 1% of the population, their impact is profound. Not only are they the most sinister criminals, but some psychiatrists suggest they also thrive at the top levels of power, politically and financially. So is there a sure-fire way to diagnose psychopathology? And once psychopaths are identified, what should we do with them? These are among the many provocative questions Jon Ronson poses in "The Psychopath Test", his "journey through the madness industry". It is a testament to his skills as a writer and a journalist that this book is as engaging as it is, given that he doesn't offer any answers.

At the centre of the book is the story of Tony, a man locked up in England's Broadmoor psychiatric hospital who insists that he is sane. Convicted at 17 of a violent crime, Tony assumed that if he pretended to be crazy he would be sent to a cushy asylum instead of prison. Twelve years later he is struggling to convince his wardens that he is not mad. The problem, Mr Ronson learns, is that Tony earned a high score on the Hare Checklist, otherwise known as the "gold standard for diagnosing psychopaths". According to this simple questionnaire, Tony is not only far from normal, but an incurable menace to society. His charms and powers of persuasion are all part of what make him so dangerous. Read more

"The Psychopath's Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry", by Jon Ronson, is published by Picador and is out now