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Summary: A Person who has worked very hard to take charge of her life
Review: I read this book many years ago, along with a few of Peck's other books. I was obviously searching for something... I really didn't know exactly what I was searching for but I knew that it had something to do with understanding myself and who I was.I now realize that I do not agree with Peck's theory about why people are "evil". I believe that he has a tendency to oversimplify and miss some pretty key points as to why some people are "bad". It is my assertion that this so called "human evil" is part of a vicious cycle that goes back many thousands of years--even before the time of Christ. It is linked to many western cultures and we can see much of this behavior even in the pages of the Bible. I believe that we need to rethink our cultural and religious beliefs and how they shape whole groups of people. A good place to begin this search is a book called "The New Dance Of Christ" by Anthony T. Massimini. Massimini hits on some very pertinent reasons as to why people are the way that they are. He delves deeply into the psychological brain of Christian Culture... Even if you are not a Christian, you will be amazed, and something will happen to you when you read it-something very enlightening and even shocking... I don't want to give away anything about this book because each page should be read and absorbed by the reader. The only thing that I will say is that if you are searching and looking to understand yourself and the world around you, BUY "THE NEW DANCE OF CHRIST"! It very well may change your life just as it did mine...
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Summary: An important look at the nature of evil
Review: This is not the first book of M. Scott Peck's that I have read, but it was the most profound. It actually made me cry, as I realized, in reading it, the times in which I have been evil, the times in which my ex-husband has been (and continues to be) evil, and the way in which my dad, despite his many shortcomings, was not truly evil. We are not talking about demon-possessed evil -- though Peck does talk about that in his chapter on demon possession -- but rather about the garden-variety human evil, which I think plagues us all to some degree or another, but some of us are able to rise above our willfulness and narcissism to compassion and the ability to turn our wills over to the God of our understanding.
Peck also discusses the anatomy of group evil, and I found something he wrote eerily prophetic. Keeping in mind the book was published in 1983 (20 years ago), read these words: "Twenty years from now, when Vietnam has been largely forgotten, how easy it will be, with volunteers, to once again become involved in little foreign adventures. Such adventures will keep our military on its toes, provide it with real-life war games to test its prowess, and need not hurt or involve the average American citizen at all until it's too late" (p. 232). Granted, we were attacked, by Osama bin Ladin, but what did Iraq do to us? Can you say "prophet"?
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Summary: Undermines its important message
Review: Dr. Peck's concern with the reality of evil remains unheard in the mental health community a decade and a half after this book was published. He makes a strong case for the reality of evil, but undercuts it in two ways: His belief in evil spirits, and his confining evil to character pathology, and a specific one--narcissism--at that. Why belief in evil spirits discredits him in the mental health community is obvious. This sort of superstition, which is not open to objective verification or experimental falsification, cannot be taken seriously by people committed (however fecklessly) to an ideal of scientific knowledge. Confining evil to narcissism is problematic in a different way: It makes evil a sign of sickness, and historically one is not held responsible for what one does as a result of illness. Within the mental health community, pathological narcissism, which is acknowledged to be extremely destructive, is regarded as something to be cured, something for which one is no more morally culpable than one would be for blindness. One need not be clinically narcissistic to objectify and use others. Perfectly healthy people can be evil. Failures of empathy, envy, and exploitation do not confine themselves to the psychiatrically challenged. Egoism, a moral failing, is not the same thing as narcissism, a pathlogical condition. By conflating the two, Peck made sure that the mental health community would fail to recognize the reality and horror of the former--and its role in fostering it--and also dismiss his contention that narcissism is a moral problem.
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Summary: Interesting, but not as well written as his other books
Review: Excellent topic and I related well to the information presented, however it wasn't as well written as his other books. It was very dry in places, causing me to skip around.
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Summary: Parts are really worth reading
Review: Reading People of the Lie is worth your time. First of all, it's not going to take a whole lot of your time--it's pretty quick reading. Second (and more importantly), the case studies and real-life examples contained in this book can be really helpful to getting you more attuned to narcissism and scapegoating characteristics in yourself and others. I did not agree with Dr. Peck that we need to call just this one specific type of character flaw "evil." He does not include much of a defense for saying why we need to name a characteristic as "evil," other than that in naming we gain some power over it; and this reason doesn't hold up. Dr. Peck is writing from a self-proclaimed Christian worldview, and in his worldview Jesus refers to everyone as evil ("If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children..." Matt. 7:11, Luke 11:13), and it doesn't make sense that he is choosing to define evil so specifically as to exclude what is normally thought of as evil in addition to that which Jesus referred to. Certainly Peck's given definition of evil falls under the heading of evil, but in this book he offers very little reasoning for why this specific and narrow definition should be sufficient to cover all real "evil." Many of his points are not made well, and his main goal to set a psychology of evil still is vastly incomplete (which he admits). However, this book is still well worth reading if only to become more aware of these types of evils in yourself and in the people around you so as to combat them with love, as he advises.
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Summary: Eye opening book.
Review: After reading this book, things I had been confused about suddenly made more sense. Although People of the lie is a disturbing book, its still a must read. I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: Eye Opening
Review: This book is eye opening. You may have thought many of these same things, but it is unusual to see it in print. There IS evil and it is good to differentiate between evil that is "natural" and "super-natural". This book covers many aspects of this and some ideas of what can be done. In a way it is spooky, but we often fear what we do not know, so in that way this book is comforting. I recommend this to anyone who has had emotional or psychological patterns now or in the past, or anyone that is close to someone who has. That includes just about everyone.
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Summary: A rare, gutsy analysis.
Review: Evil as narcissism. Evil as ego-centrism. Evil as a diagnosis?
Peck's "People of the Lie" is a breath-taking analysis of human evil. His ideas mostly revolve around those people who destroy via subtle lies to protect their own wickedness. Peck's ability to tell stories with emotional percision is magnificant and he draws you in to actually feel what he was feeling as he confronted these people in his practice.
Although Peck's proposal to have evil as a Psychiatric diagnosis will fall on deaf ears (imagine the insurance companies covering the treatment of those diagnosed evil, not even in this country will that come to pass) his findings are a contribution to all who hope to understand the psychology of those who destroy.
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Summary: Evil People
Review: ...To start, this book is entitled "People of the Lie," because lying is both a cause and a manifestation of evil. And the author describes evil as the use of power to destroy the spiritual growth of others for the purpose of defending and preserving the integrity of our own sick selves... [the author writes]"While evil people are to be feared, they are also to be pitied. Forever fleeing the light of self-exposure and the voice of their own conscience, they are the most frightened of human beings." Which I believe is an excellent point for people to be aware of, so that they choose to be empowered, from within their soul. [The author also writes]"It is a thesis of this book that evil can be defined as a specific form of mental illness and should be subject to at least the same intensity of scientific investigation that we would devote to some other major psychiatric disease." For me, this book was very helpful in strengthening my ability o maintain my boundaries, in the face of situations that as a child I would have given into... The only point in which I disagree with Scott Peck in this book is when he says that he has seen cases where pepole have made evil choices for no apparent reason, other than the desire to exercise the freedom of his or her will. (That is a reason).
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Summary: Interesting and neglected premise - poorly developed
Review: Scott Peck's book left me rather puzzled. I have a fairly extensive background in theology (studied in both Church of England and Roman Catholic universities), and, while the study of evil is certainly in accord with a Christian perspective, his religious approach seems to be his own creation. Peck gives the Father of Lies far too much credit, and his quickness to assume that exorcism can be a cure for either demonstrated wickedness or (far more likely in the case studies presented) a mind distorted by serious illness is... certainly original. In fact, true wickedness, which would involve a will turned to evil, would not (theologically) be necessarily possible if one had no true use of reason or of will in the first place. I am not expert in psychology, but have had a significant amount of exposure to concepts and to those with mental illness. Some of the cases Peck presents show very difficult patients, but I could not understand why he judged all to be evil. In fact, the only case with which I clearly saw an evil element was of the boy who received a "present" from his parents of a gun his own brother had used to kill himself. The book has some value in stimulating discussion and consideration of the topics broached. Certainly, "he's just sick" should not be a blanket justification for wickedness, nor should we deny that evil exists - and lies, manipulation, and total self centredness can be chilling in the extreme. Yet Scott's combination of a self-developed approach to theology (flawed on many counts) and a psychology based on the pre-supposition that the difficult are evil falls far short of both marks.
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