Kevin Dutton, "The Wisdom of Psychopaths"

 -e-book

Read from August 26^th to September 8^th 2021

My rating:

 

The title of Kevin Dutton’s book, The Wisdom of the Psychopaths seems ironically oxymoronic, until you read the preface that’s it, and learn that the essay is built on the idea that there is something good in every bad, even in psychopathy, for some of its attributes, like personal magnetism and a genius for disguise, used in moderation, of course, make it adaptive (not different, in a way, from anxiety, for it is known that anxious people can detect threats better than the rest of us, a very useful quality in an hostile or unknown environment):

Psychopathy is like sunlight. Overexposure can hasten one’s demise in grotesque, carcinogenic fashion. But regulated exposure at controlled and optimal levels can have a significant positive impact on well-being and quality of life.

The challenging thesis formulated, the author proceeds to prove it, gathering information from studies, experiments, books and personal observations, to build an image of psychopaths contrary to many stereotypes we have about them.

Julian Barnes, "Nothing to Be Frightened of"

  – ebook

Read from August 4^th to September 1^st 2021

My Rating:  

 

Part family memoir, part essay on death, Julian Barnes’ Nothing to Be Frightened of is a touching, but also an often humorous meditation on the most faithful companion of us all.

The book eclectically gathers different attitudes towards Death (and expectations beyond it), from curiosity and indifference to terror, of his family or of artists, in what he calls a pseudo-therapeutic effort to overcome his own fear.