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darlinglemon's review against another edition
4.0
While parts of this book are outdated it remains a very important and insightful look into human nature, culture, and violence. Throughout his work, Baumeister makes a distinction between what we know as "the myth of pure evil" and how evil actually occurs. How we think and talk about evil rarely matches up with how evil is actually carried out. Usually we think of evil in terms of victims and perpetrators, but this leaves out the responsibility of bystanders. It also brings up how evildoers don't view their actions as evil, they always have a justifiable reason (to them).
This is a work of sociology, but is very readable with lots of world examples. It covers a lot of comprehensive ground and gives a great deal of thought to nuance. The scope and scale that are covered in this book are very important. This might be one of the most important books I have read in the name of research.
That being said, I had a few misgivings about this book. First, there is one sentence about how testosterone is tied to aggression. Not only does the meta analysis not support this, the studies that do claim high testosterone is connected to aggression were conducted with biases and done on male prisoners. This wasn't discussed at length, and at the time this was written this was highly accepted as true, but nonetheless it bothered me. Secondly, Baumeister goes out of his was to not use the term racism or sexism. Maybe this was on purpose, as to not bring in the perspective of the victim (which he was attempting to avoid) but it was still annoying.
This is a work of sociology, but is very readable with lots of world examples. It covers a lot of comprehensive ground and gives a great deal of thought to nuance. The scope and scale that are covered in this book are very important. This might be one of the most important books I have read in the name of research.
That being said, I had a few misgivings about this book. First, there is one sentence about how testosterone is tied to aggression. Not only does the meta analysis not support this, the studies that do claim high testosterone is connected to aggression were conducted with biases and done on male prisoners. This wasn't discussed at length, and at the time this was written this was highly accepted as true, but nonetheless it bothered me. Secondly, Baumeister goes out of his was to not use the term racism or sexism. Maybe this was on purpose, as to not bring in the perspective of the victim (which he was attempting to avoid) but it was still annoying.
hossein's review against another edition
5.0
I can not emphasize enough how good this book is! It truly changed my view of the world and human being as a whole.
Evil is subjective and you can easily fall for it if you're not informed or careful enough.
Also, I loved the reall stories and researches which were quoted throughout the book. It gave the book legitimacy and an interesting vibe to proceed.
Highly recommended.
Evil is subjective and you can easily fall for it if you're not informed or careful enough.
Also, I loved the reall stories and researches which were quoted throughout the book. It gave the book legitimacy and an interesting vibe to proceed.
Highly recommended.
leahrglicker's review
slow-paced
2.0
There are much more interesting books on this subject that are to the point and more engaging. Also beware, the author talks extensively about race and interracial crime in this book, and it feels really dated and borderline racist at points. Regardless, research in this area has come a long way in the last 20 years, so you might as well pick something more up to date anyway.
jtmach's review
4.0
This book had a ton of interesting points to make. It would be a great book for a discussion group as I had several discussions with friends about points the author was trying to make.
My only complaint about the book would be that some of the authors points came across to me as almost excusing of very heinous acts.
My only complaint about the book would be that some of the authors points came across to me as almost excusing of very heinous acts.
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