Evil: Inside Human Cruelty and Violence

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Summary: One of the most interesting books I've ever read!
Review: I picked up this book thinking it would be a study of serial killers or something. I was happily surprised to find a well written book about the myth of evil. Baumiester does a good job of introducing difficult concepts that challenge our belief systems. One particularly interesting facet of his theory is the "perception gap" between the victims of evil and the perpetrators of evil. Baumiester uses both scientific research and real-life examples (O.J., Sadaam Hussien, Bosnia) to illustrate his points, making the information very accessible. As a writer, I found the information on what causes people to commit evil actions fascinating and helpful in creating fictional characters with dimension. As a someone who works in the prevention field, I applied his theory about egotism and violence to school bullies. This book is a must read for writers, teachers, law enforcement, prevention specialist, counselors and so forth. This book will definately make you think.

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Summary: Superb
Review: If you read this carefully, allowing the author to make his points, this will change the way you see your world in some very constructive ways. Baumeister shows great skill in drawing together and presenting material from a number of disciplines.The word "thought-provoking" is an understatement..

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Summary: An outstanding attempt to understand human violence
Review: In the course of reviewing over 20 books on the topic of human violence and mass murder, I found this to be far and away the best. Some obviously have problems with the author's attempts to understand and not just demonize killers. I can think of no other way of getting into the heads of those who commit violence in the name of a state, an ideology, an ethnic group, a religion or indeed any other belief system. Confronting the "banality of evil" is indeed an unpleasant exercise, but necessary if we are ever to achieve a deeper understanding of our greatest failing as a species. To summarize, this work is probably the best research-based study of the psychology of human mass violence currently on the market.

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding attempt to understand human violence
Review: In the course of reviewing over 20 books on the topic of human violence and mass murder, I found this to be far and away the best. Some obviously have problems with the author's attempts to understand and not just demonize killers. I can think of no other way of getting into the heads of those who commit violence in the name of a state, an ideology, an ethnic group, a religion or indeed any other belief system. Confronting the "banality of evil" is indeed an unpleasant exercise, but necessary if we are ever to achieve a deeper understanding of our greatest failing as a species. To summarize, this work is probably the best research-based study of the psychology of human mass violence currently on the market.

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Summary: Pretentious book suffers from lack of scholarship.
Review: It's always disappointing when someone with academic credentials blunders on a large scale, but Baumeister's book is a particularly low water mark. I expect more from a study of violence and cruelty than uneducated statements such as, "Comedy is delicate and difficult, but fright is easily achieved." The preceding sentence appears in a section of the book that briefly touches on horror films. It's obvious that the author has never seen a highly acclaimed horror film or read a good book about the genre. Later in the same section it is implied that villains in general have been absent from true literature for a very long time. Well, I guess we can finally start burning the works of Shakespeare and Dickens then. This is simply the kind of book that takes us as a society backward instead of forward because it refuses to allow the truth to sway its a priori convictions, and surely in the bloated world of book publishing, that ought to be some kind of sin.

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Summary: Military and police tactics instructors
Review: Makes Roy Baumesiter's "Evil:. . ." a must read. R. Baumeister is an accomplished author and scientist in the social psyhcology field. He addresses the roots and evolution of violence and cruely within the individual. Excellent for anyone considering a couseling-related field, psychology, or criminology. Whether you are walking the beat in NYC, or maintaining cells at a detention facility...this book assists in the development of empathy required to work in those fields.

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Summary: Superb Forensic Literature!
Review: Reviewer is the author of Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, which is also on Amazon.com. EVIL: INSIDE HUMAN VIOLENCE AND CRUELTY is,in fact, probably the most UNDERPRICED book I've ever purchased. Roy Baumeister and his "friendly helpers" put together what will surely become a true classic textbook. This is top-of-the-line forensic literature! The book's both well written and researched from cover to cover. One statement that Dr. Baumeister makes, in particular, powerfully illustrates the profound nature of what's being conveyed when he writes: "Setting aside one's moral values, however risky that may be, is helpful when one attempts to understand the perpetrators of evil." Don't continue calling yourself a forensic expert unless you've read this book!

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Summary: Pop Psychology meets Reader's Digest
Review: The thing most striking about reading this book was how seamlessly one could transition from reading the dust jacket to reading the book itself. Both were written with the same one-sentence generalizations and lack of supporting detail. Dr. Baumeister gave me the same warm feelings of trust that I get whenever I read middle school history books. Funny, but it was the same style of writing as well. Maybe he moonlights for McGraw-Hill?
The next most striking thing was how many times he repeated himself. Was he teaching a heavy freshman course-load while writing this book? The chapters were titled with snappy one-liners, but contained seemingly random examples that occasionally supported the theme of the chapter. The main theme seemed to be that he liked to use the same core examples to support each of his witty simplifications. Then of course there the places where he would mention either an author or their work, but not both! This is acceptable only if you like puzzles, you have internet access, and you want to take to the time to conduct numerous Google searches based on this incomplete name dropping without endnotes. Or, perhaps he used this same reference three other times in previous chapters and I just happened to glaze over it the fourth time around. Did I mention that he repeats himself, a lot?

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Summary: Pop psychology masking as science
Review: This book pretends to be a scientific study of "evil," but in fact it is just a bunch of entertaining stories of people being nasty to each other, interspersed with "analysis" that amounts to little more than the mouthing of platitudes and banalities. We are told that perpetrators of antisocial acts do not consider themselves evil, and often consider their acts justified, or not of great importance. We are told that people seek revenge because their self-esteem is threatened. We are told that drugs and alcohol do not induce people to perform evil deeds, but rather allow people to perform deeds they would otherwise have restrained themselves from performing. We are told that many evil-doers are self-centered and uncaring of others. We are told that we could all behave in an "evil" manner under the right circumstances.

This is all drivel, of course, masquerading as science. None of these statements is subjected to anything like scientific scrutiny. Most of them are obvious (e.g. perpetrators say they don't care about their victims) or false (revenge occurs because people's self-esteem is threatened) or meaningless (most of the sentences in the book fall under this category, since most of the emotions and forms of consciousness described are of the offhand, pop psychology type).

So, if you want to read about lots of dirty stuff people have done to one another, this is your book. And if you like to think your reading is enlightening and informative without actually dealing with the difficult analytical and quantitative tasks of modeling and testing human behavior, this is your book.

My only consolation in purchasing this book is that is was cheap, yet quite nicely put together. Also, it gives me a chance to write a nasty review. I take revenge no doubt beause of a threat to my self-esteem, no doubt.

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Summary: Solves Many of the Mysteries of Evil
Review: This is the book for anyone who has ever been the victim of a crime and wishes to understand how or why it happened, or whose profession requires frequent contact with perpetrators of evil and who needs to understand the thinking process of such people. I have read several other books on the subject, mostly approaching it from the perspectives of literature, religion or mythology, but these works tend to provide unsatisfying answers to the basic questions of what inspires evil and what causes it to spread. Dr. Baumeister's work answers both of these questions convincingly, along with many others, such as why evil people almost never consider themselves to be evil; why there is not more evil in the world, considering how often evil goes unpunished; why revenge is usually disproportionate to the initial offense and why it settles nothing and often inspires further and greater evil; why drugs and alcohol so often accompany evil and whether they are actually a cause of evil; whether low self-esteem or high self-esteem is more conducive to evil, and the role which self-esteem, and challenges to self-esteem, play in the initiation of evil; and how the perpetrators of evil manage to live with themselves. This is not only the best book I have ever read on the subject; it is the only one I have read which approaches the problem from the standpoint of empirical research rather than mere ideology. It is also extremely well written, accessible to the general reader and generously illustrated with examples from history and current events.