A review by charms92
Talking with Psychopaths and Savages: A Journey into the Evil Mind by Christopher Berry-Dee
informative
slow-paced
1.5
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks into you. - Friedrich Nietzsche.
This book was an utter disappointment, especially for its subject matter. The author, Christopher Berry-Dee spends most of the book talking about himself and his accomplishments and self-promoting his other works. He makes sure the reader is aware that he is under a word count from his publisher and to me it seems his constant mention of his word count helps him to achieve this word count. Not only that but in many places, entire paragraphs are repeated word for word throughout the book. There were many inconsistencies as well. For example on page 74 dates are off by a year (a crime was committed in 2015 while the trial for said crime was in 2014). Berry-Dee likes to say the same things albeit in different ways. For example, on pages 76/77 he uses two different ways to mention the fact that the criminal was cheating on his partner. All this does is show me as a reader that he seriously needed to get that word count. (If I have to read word count one more time...) Speaking of repetition, he constantly uses the same phrase, " elephants fly, lead balls bounce and fairies reign supreme," which was used a minimum of 5 times throughout the book. Overall this book needed another round or two of editing; it was an absolute headache to read.
As far as the content of this book, I felt like I did not learn a single new thing. The only interesting topic that was briefly touched upon was related to kryptopyrrole and its possible relation to psychopathy. This however was never brought up again. Ironically when Berry-Dee describes narcissism all I could see is the author himself. He claims that Narcissistic Personality Disorder is linked to psychopathy, however, only he has concluded that since medical/psychiatric professionals have failed to find or consider this link. This is insane since anyone who even remotely enjoys True Crime or works in a psychiatric position will make the same connection. Overall Berry-Dee did not reveal anything new outside of his blatant self-promotion.
This book will be put away, far far away so that I never have to read another word of it again. It is a shame really since this was the first book I have read of Berry-Dee's and I will never touch anything of his again.
This book was an utter disappointment, especially for its subject matter. The author, Christopher Berry-Dee spends most of the book talking about himself and his accomplishments and self-promoting his other works. He makes sure the reader is aware that he is under a word count from his publisher and to me it seems his constant mention of his word count helps him to achieve this word count. Not only that but in many places, entire paragraphs are repeated word for word throughout the book. There were many inconsistencies as well. For example on page 74 dates are off by a year (a crime was committed in 2015 while the trial for said crime was in 2014). Berry-Dee likes to say the same things albeit in different ways. For example, on pages 76/77 he uses two different ways to mention the fact that the criminal was cheating on his partner. All this does is show me as a reader that he seriously needed to get that word count. (If I have to read word count one more time...) Speaking of repetition, he constantly uses the same phrase, " elephants fly, lead balls bounce and fairies reign supreme," which was used a minimum of 5 times throughout the book. Overall this book needed another round or two of editing; it was an absolute headache to read.
As far as the content of this book, I felt like I did not learn a single new thing. The only interesting topic that was briefly touched upon was related to kryptopyrrole and its possible relation to psychopathy. This however was never brought up again. Ironically when Berry-Dee describes narcissism all I could see is the author himself. He claims that Narcissistic Personality Disorder is linked to psychopathy, however, only he has concluded that since medical/psychiatric professionals have failed to find or consider this link. This is insane since anyone who even remotely enjoys True Crime or works in a psychiatric position will make the same connection. Overall Berry-Dee did not reveal anything new outside of his blatant self-promotion.
This book will be put away, far far away so that I never have to read another word of it again. It is a shame really since this was the first book I have read of Berry-Dee's and I will never touch anything of his again.