Here are 100 books that The Wisdom of Psychopaths fans have personally recommended if you like
The Wisdom of Psychopaths.
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Why am I passionate about psychopaths? Iâm not, but I am passionate about creating characters with depth that arenât the cardboard cutout tropes that litter science fiction, like used confetti. People are deeper, richer, and far more twisted than most authors imagine or dream. So knowing nothing about psychopaths, I found out. I read the books listed above and visited some nice (slightly amused but paid) psychologists for long chats, with the goal of making one central character in three volumes of my hexalogy as close to real as an imagined person can be. Why? So, Diathesis stands out from the crowd. So the reader can immerse fully in the story.
All I needed was the view from inside a psychopath, and there arenât many reliable ones out there, but hey, guess what, this one isâbecause itâs written by a self-diagnosed psychopath whoâs also a neuroscientist!
I loved this one as the inside view is that extra layer of nuance I needed to build into one of my main charactersâunderstanding how they think and process from their perspective is crucial in making my psychopath real. Bonus here is that the authorâs absolutely honest, describing his behaviours, what he didnât see impacting on those around him,and then adding in how they felt and reacted. Very valuable.
âCompelling, essential reading for understanding the underpinnings of psychopathy.â â M. E. Thomas, author of Confessions of a Sociopath
For his first fifty-eight years, James Fallon was by all appearances a normal guy. A successful neuroscientist and professor, heâd been raised in a loving family, married his high school sweetheart, and had three kids and lots of friends. Then he learned a shocking truth that would not only disrupt his personal and professional life, but would lead him to question the very nature of his own identity.
While researching serial killers, he uncovered a pattern in their brain scans thatâŚ
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa storiesâall reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argueâŚ
I am an emeritus professor of criminology and criminal justice who came of age in the 1960s at the UC Berkeley School of Criminology where I developed a passion for the administration of criminal justice and the securing of human rights. I have authored more than 20 books, including five award winning titles such as: Criminology on Trump (2022) and Indicting the 45th President: Boss Trump, the GOP, and What We Can Do About the Threat to American Democracy (2024). My third book to complete the Trump trilogy is underway, Regime Change, Authoritarian Treason, and the Outlaw-in-Chief: President Donald Trumpâs Struggle to Kill U.S. Democracy & Realign American Global Power.
Not only is Mary L. Trump a trained clinical psychologist and Donaldâs only niece, but she also spent much of her childhood hanging out at her grandparentsâ home in Queens, New York, where the president grew up with his four siblings.
Mary has the inside scoop, bringing the reader into several dysfunctional family events, including holiday meals. And she reveals the interfamilial patterns of abuse and neglect that helped shape the polarizing sociopath who now threatens the United States and the worldâs well-being and economic security.
* THE INTERNATIONAL AND SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER * In this revelatory, authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him, Mary L. Trump, a trained clinical psychologist and Donald's only niece, shines a bright light on the dark history of their family in order to explain how her uncle became the man who threatened the world's health, economic security and social fabric.
Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents' large, imposing house in New York, where Donald and his four siblings grew up. She describes a nightmare of traumas, destructiveâŚ
Iâm a family therapist and author with a lot of experience in psychopathic behavior. Psychopathy falls on a spectrum â from a few traits to the extreme (serial killer) and everything in-between. Studies have shown that strong psychopathic behavior is common in our leaders â political, religious, business, and cultural. Thereâs also the psychopath ânext doorâ â people we work, play, and live with. As an author, therapist, and researcher, Iâm passionate about the subject â constantly examining psychopathic behaviors. I hope you enjoy my Broken Books Series which features different types of psychopaths in both the present and past, and my booklist that explores this fascinating subject.
This is a true story that pulls you into a strange, painful reality. What is it like to be the father of one of Americaâs most notorious serial killers? Jeffrey Dahmer murdered 17 males. He lured them to his home, gave his victims drugs and alcohol, and strangled them to death. After he killed, Dahmer had sex with the corpses, dismembered them, and threw the remains away. Sometimes he kept souvenirs, skulls, or took photos. This gruesome story by Jeffreyâs father, Lionel, exposes Dadâs shock as he unravels the truth. It talks about the horror, grief, desperation, and struggle to embrace the reality of the child he still loves. Would you be able to forgive if it was your child?
In July of 1991 the country was shocked by the unfathomable crimes of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. But no one was more shocked than his parents. In A Father's Story, the reader is witness to the incremental unraveling of a parent's image of their child, and the "thousand different reactions" that follow. In his attempt to understand the nature of his son's psychosis, Lionel Dahmer methodically scrutinizes every possible contributing factor to his son's madness. His desperation is palpable as he searches for clues in the emotional, psychological, and genetic landscape ofâŚ
Crossing is a vividly human re-imagining of the love, sacrifices, and accomplishments that two Chinese brothers - American Immigrants - experience as they travel to California to build the Transcontinental Railroad.Â
Some men need killing. Whether monsters, serial killers, or husbands, women often face off with danger and must put a stop to it. How they do that fascinates me as a former psychotherapist. Must her life be in imminent danger, his finger depressing the trigger, for her to shoot? What if he terrorized or stalked her, but at the moment of death, she sneaks up on him? What if this guy killed her family, and she seeks revenge? Where we draw these lines in fiction informs who we are as humans and the very nature of our souls. And each of the books on my list, prism-like, reveals a separate facet.
Iâm ending with this unorthodox double feature (think Godzilla v. Kong) because girls who kill put a twist on the theme of this list. What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice. But maybe theyâre a little less nice when boys are boys.
A feminist reimagining of Marchâs classic 1950s novel has Claude Daigle perhaps deserving of his fate at Rhoda Penmarkâs hands. What if he tormented and taunted her, and she took revenge? While the daughter in Stageâs contemporary novel walks a very narrow line that kept me unsure the whole time⌠the guessing was delicious. Is Hanna evil? Or misunderstood? Is her mom, Suzette, going to get her due? Or is she going insane?Â
The bestselling novel that inspired Mervyn LeRoyâs classic horror film about the little girl who can get away with anythingâeven murder.  Thereâs something special about eight-year-old Rhoda Penmark. With her carefully plaited hair and her sweet cotton dresses, sheâs the very picture of old-fashioned innocence. But when their neighborhood suffers a series of terrible accidents, her mother begins to wonder: Why do bad things seem to happen when little Rhoda is around?  Originally published in 1954, William Marchâs final novel was an instant bestseller and National Book Award finalist before it was adapted for the stage and madeâŚ
The books on this list arrived at different moments in my life, but each one helped me see myself, my body, and my relationship with food in a new way. Some taught me about habits. Others helped me understand compassion, emotional healing, boundaries, and personal growth. Together, they brought light to my journey from chronic dieting and self-criticism to greater trust, freedom, and bodyâmind harmony.
What I loved about this book is the freedom in its message.
People may change, and people may never change. Either way, they do not have to change for me to find peace. I am not responsible for someone else's emotional well-being, nor do I need to shape myself to fit into their expectations, wounds, or emotional voids.
The title itself says it all: let them. There is a great deal of freedom in that.
#1 New York Times Bestseller #1 Sunday Times Bestseller #1 Amazon Bestseller #1 Audible Bestseller
A Life-Changing Tool Millions of People Can't Stop Talking About
What if the key to happiness, success, and love was as simple as two words?
If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn't you. The problem is the power you give to other people. Two simple words-Let Them-will set you free. Free from the opinions, drama, and judgments of others. Free from the exhausting cycle of trying to manage everything and everyone around you. The Let Them TheoryâŚ
I have been practicing psychotherapy since 1999. I started reading self-help books when I was 19 years old in college because I wanted to know more about myself, why I felt the way I did at times, why I felt stuck at times and how I could feel empowered to make changes. Sadly many books donât tell you what you can do to change and that is why I wrote my book. The books I am sharing with you have had big effects on my thinking and therefore my behavior. For it is in how we think, we act in our lives and with others. These books help you look at you.
I am recommending this book, The Art of Impossible, because it creates a deep thinking of âwhat do I stand for? Where am I going? And How do I get there?â It has science, spirituality, and self-awareness in one place.Â
I loved this book so much I went to the store and bought every copy and gave it out to friends and family. When I would read it I felt empowered to think deeply and look at my life with new insight. I was reading this book during the start of covid. It helped me stay focused. Stay engaged in my life path and learn tools on how to stay focused.
Bestselling author and peak performance expert Steven Kotler decodes the secrets of those elite performers-athletes, artists, scientists, CEOs and more-who have changed our definition of the possible, teaching us how we too can stretch far beyond our capabilities, making impossible dreams much more attainable for all of us.
What does it take to accomplish the impossible? What does it take to shatter our limitations, exceed our expectations, and turn our biggest dreams into our most recent achievements?
We are capable of so much more than we know-that's the message at the core of The Art ofâŚ
Almost Home is a fictional retelling of the last great tragedy of the Civil War.
In late April 1865, almost 2,000 newly freed Union prisoners of war are packed onto the steamer Sultana, in poor repair and with a listed capacity of 376 passengers. Among them are four Indiana soldiersâŚ
When I first started in the field of strategy, all the cool kids were doing industry-level analysis. Order of entry, strategic groups, R&D intensityâŚanything you could get sufficient data about to run complex models was the order of the day. Those of us studying the âinsidesâ of corporations, particularly the process of innovation, were kind of huddled together for warmth! Today, strategy and innovation have come together in a remarkable way, but I find that most people still donât understand the processes. One of my goals is to de-mystify the innovation process â these books will give you a great start in understanding the practices that are too bewildering for too many people.
This unusually formatted and provocative book delivers on its promise, which is that harnessing human imagination is a predictable, replicable process. Beginning with the first seeds of what gets our imaginations going (hint: when things arenât chugging along as expected) to a recipe for how not to let those sparks die out as an idea becomes more mainstream, the book is chock full of examples, anecdotes, how toâs and more. And one of my favorite aspects of it is that it also has a multimedia guide to what BCG calls the ânapkin gallery,â a virtual museum devoted to the earliest instances of some of the most important inventions ever commercialized. Â
A guide for mining the imagination to find powerful new ways to succeed.
We need imagination now more than ever-to find new opportunities, rethink our businesses, and discover paths to growth. Yet too many companies have lost their ability to imagine. What is this mysterious capacity? How does imagination work? And how can organizations keep it alive and harness it in a systematic way?
The Imagination Machine answers these questions and more. Drawing on the experience and insights of CEOs across several industries, as well as lessons from neuroscience, computer science, psychology, and philosophy, Martin Reeves of Boston Consulting Group'sâŚ
Iâm a psychologist in Los Angeles specializing in helping people identify their blind spots and break the cycles of their past by retraining their mindset about the future. I developed a new treatment called Future Directed Therapy and Iâve been helping people build better lives for over 15 years. Iâm very passionate about empowering my clients to find practical skills and tools for taking charge of their emotional health and achieving the things they want in life. I recommend these books to my clients on a regular basis and find inspiration in them for my own blog Living Forward which I write as a featured expert for Psychology Today.
Iâm always saying to my clients, âEverything in life comes with a user manual these days except your brain.â That is, until Jim Kwik wrote his book Limitless. People often feel distressed when they arenât able to make their brain do what they want it to do, such as focusing, remembering old things, or learning new things. This book translates into a useable form, what neuroscience has shown us is how our brains work. With this book it is now possible to make your brain work for you. If you have a brain, you should not be without this book.
For the last 25 years, Jim Kwik has helped everyone from celebrities to CEOs to students improve their memory, increase their decision-making skills, learn to speed-read and unleash their superbrains.
In Limitless, readers will learn Jim's revolutionary strategies and shortcuts to break free from their perceived limitations. They'll learn how to supercharge their brains with simple, actionable tools to sharpen the mind, enhance focus and fast-track their fullest potential.
The book is organized into four sections: Mindset, Motivation, Meta-Learning and Mission. Readers will discover the myths they've been told about their IQ, abilities and skillset; understand why learning matters; learnâŚ
I am passionate about raising each human being for lifelong wellbeing and a full set of intelligences. High-income nations donât do this so much anymore. I conduct empirical studies with children, parents, and other adults to examine how early experience affects capacities for getting along in life and with others. My book has won awards for its holistic view, integrating neuroscience, anthropology, and developmental science. This work led me to start the Evolved Nest website with lots of resources for parents and for all who care about human wellbeing. Humanity is facing many challenges and we need everyoneâs gifts to be well grown to help us solve the problems we face.
My students love this book. It takes the inside perspective of both the parent and the child in stressful situations and guides the reader on how to act in a way that builds connection and relationship. It is easy to read with lots of real-life examples.
In this groundbreaking exploration of the brain mechanisms behind healthy caregiving, attachment specialist Daniel A. Hughes and veteran clinical psychologist Jonathan Baylin guide readers through the intricate web of neuronal processes, hormones and chemicals that drive-and sometimes thwart-our caregiving impulses, uncovering the mysteries of the parental brain.
The biggest challenge to parents, Hughes and Baylin explain, is learning how to regulate emotions that arise-feeling them deeply and honestly while staying grounded and aware enough to preserve the parent-child relationship. Stress, which can lead to "blocked" or dysfunctional care, can impede our brain's inherent caregiving processes and negatively impact ourâŚ
Creativity, Teaching, and Natural Inspiration
by
Mark Doherty,
I have woven numerous delightful and descriptive true life stories, many from my adventures as an outdoorsman and singer songwriter, into my life as a high school English teacher. I think you'll find this work both entertaining as well as informative, and I hope you enjoy the often lighthearted reparteeâŚ
I am an integrative child psychiatrist with a special focus on how screen-time detunes the nervous system, causing issues with sleep, mood, focus, and behavior. In fact, technology use is the most underestimated influence of our time; it causes problems whose connections arenât always obvious, leads to misdiagnosis and overmedication, and wastes resources. I am passionate about helping children and families methodically reverse these changes using screen fast protocols that provide dramatic improvements in functioning and well-being. I speak regularly to parentsâ groups, schools, and health providers, and my work has been featured on such outlets as NPR, CNN, NBC Nightly News, Psychology Today, and Good Morning America.
This gem of a book presents the argument that parents should consider delaying giving their children smartphones until the child becomes an adult and has attained certain life skills. A mother of four, former nurse, and founder of ScreenStrong, author Melanie Hempe lived through digital addiction in her own family and is passionate about helping other families avoid her âmistakesâ. At the same time she is well-versed in the current scientific literature across a broad array of tech-related topics, and she successfully âwalks the talkâ: her teens abstain from gaming/social media/smartphone use, but they are far from being socially ostracized - a common fear amongst parents.
Parenting in the digital age is no easy task. Yet the answers may be closer and simpler than you think. RN by trade and mother of four, Melanie Hempe offers every parent the real solution to the smartphone dilemma. With scientific research on her side, Hempe offers a fresh perspective and innovative approach on the addictive role smartphones play in the lives of our children. Drawing on her own family's digital struggles and on her work with hundreds of families over the last seven years, Hempeâs advice empowers parents to go far beyond defining the problem to experiencing life-changing results.âŚ
