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Summary: Interesting, but I have to agree with Merlin from London...
Review: I like the way Peck writes and his experiences are interesting, but I think his conclusions are a bit dramatic. I understand why a religious person would want to label people as "evil", simply because they do believe a satanic entity, but I think it is just animalistic behavior coming out in a person. We are still all animals when it comes right down to it, some better trained than others, and some more intelligent than others. There is a sad undertone to this book, and it is associated with the author. It makes you hope he heals himself.
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Summary: Excellent read, independent of concurrence
Review: For those seeking the next book or guru to validate their existence, there will be many aspects of Peck's book to dissect. For those who own their power of thought and discernment, it is nonetheless an excellent read into the view of evil's commonality. Peck doesn't pretend to be omniscient and clearly expresses from his worldview...one I found intriguing and educational.
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Summary: Evil Unveiled
Review: Dr. Scott Peck recognizes evil for what it is. A very perceptive book on evil in our society and its presence among regular folks. He discusses how evil manifests itself in our lives and how we often fail to recognize it. My favorite point he makes about evil is that it is confusing. If you become confused every time you are with someone, perhaps it is because evil is present; you know something is wrong but you can't put your finger on it. Evil bases its existence on a lie (or two or three) which is exactly why it confuses rather than clarifies like the truth. Pat Brown/Director/Investigative Criminal Profiler/The Sexual Homicide Exchange, Inc.
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Summary: This is a very important book.
Review: I know people like the ones Scott Peck outlines in People of the Lie. I found the book fascinating and was also glad to know that it wasn't just me that thought there was an element of evil in people. I think some of us are better able to develop our good side in order to control that element of evil and I also think that there are people who are absolutely unable to be honest with themselves and who will sacrifice maybe everything(including other people to retain their self serving image. I think that anyone who does not appreciate what DR. Peck is saying is either not very intelligent or in denial that there are people like this among us. Thank you for the warning Dr. Peck. One of the most important books that I've read in my life
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Summary: A sensationalist title and not a lot else!
Review: So here we have yet again , another medical professional recounting tales of his encounters with patients , anything to make a quick buck. Peck himself says that he should have entitled the book" ...... good and evil" but somehow the evil standing alone is a little bit more exciting. Peck is another dysfunctional professuinal theorist who knows it all intellectually, who knows what applys to everybody else but he himself is somehow above it all. He would like us to believe that the patients he has failed to heal are somehow evil , even more proposperous he would like us to do so in the name of progress. I became angry and sad with this book. It's language is devoid of compassion, reeks of melodrama and in the end doesn't offer anything new about anything. I suspect Dr. Peck to be one of the very people he would like us to be more aware of. The book is certainly a lie
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Summary: Simply the best yet
Review: I find this book the most engaging and insightful of all Peck's books. Buy this; you won't be disappointed.
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Summary: The core of evil is ego-centricity
Review: "Evil is the exercise of power, the imposing of one's will upon others by overt or covert coercion". "The core of evil is ego-centricity, whereby others are sacrificed rather than the ego of the individual." These words and the following analysis that Scott Pecks gives us into the world of evil are sorely needed now in America. At the heart of our political and moral melt down is the force of evil. According to Dr. Peck (psychology) the ego-centric person is utterly dedicated to preserving their self serving image. They cultivate an image of being a good, right, God fearing citizen. The specialize in self-deceit and thus are People of the Lie. Scott Peck is best know for his famed book The Road Less Traveled where Peck argues that there is a link between personal growth, spirituality, and basic mental health. In People of the Lie Scott Peck see evil as the antithesis to the very goodness and life that normal, healthy people seek. He writes this book to raise the aware that evil exists as an entity and force in the world and calls his readers to take evil far more seriously. Recommended.
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Summary: Concentrates on evil
Review: Originally, our search at Amazon was to find literature that explains lies. The learning experience was to help deal with people that lie or slander, especially to defend against such horrors. In this narrative, the concentration is on evil. Lies & evil are linked and the listener is made to understand this relationship. Certainly this helps to understand lies, although this is not the direct focus in this piece. Certainly one can learn from this tape, but the personal defenses against evil are not necessarily "put on the bottom shelf". The tape mainly consists of stories from case studies that allow one to experience others' hell with evil. From this, one is supposed to learn & grow. Although very interesting, such time spent on specific problems leaves a world of other problems left to explore. If not fortuneate to encounter one's own problem here and cannot interpolate solutions from these stories, one may be driven to find & buy more literature on the subject in this search. Nevertheless, even one experience in the Peck series is better than none and the consumer will get their money's worth, if seeking such enlightenment.
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Summary: This book is startling
Review: I both loved and abhored this book. I loved the writing style and the fact that M.Scott Peck is one of the few author's who actually seems to know what he is talking about. I was disconcerted by the idea of human evil, I suppose, because it's a disconcerting idea to begin with. This was a book that really made me think.
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Summary: An extremely important topic treated unsatisfactorily
Review: Dr. Peck demonstrated a lot of courage by publishing this book fifteen years ago: he was one of the few psychiatrists or psychologists willing to take on the problem of evil-- traditionally the murky domain of theologians, philosophers and occultists. In a nutshell, Peck equates human evil with a specific kind of psychopathology: narcissism. And, true to his born-again Christianity, he also believes in the existence and influence of demonic or Satanic evil. I disagree with Dr. Peck on both issues: Human evil can never be distilled down to one particular psychiatric diagnosis, as he proposes. Peck tends to want to project evil--the "shadow" as Jung would say--onto some small minority of psychiatric patients, rather than recognizing its full potentiality in each and every one of us. I see this as a dangerous sort of scapegoating. On the matter of Peck's literal belief in demons and the devil as the transpersonal source of evil in "! possessed" (psychotic?) individuals, I take issue here too: Peck views evil as "demonic," whereas I understand it as "daimonic." There is indeed a tremendous difference between the demonic-- connoting that which is purely negative and evil--and the daimonic, which contains the creative seeds of its own redemption. Peck does well in pointing out the relationship between pathological or malignant narcissism and human evil, and how it can manifest in diabolically subtle and devious interpersonal interactions. But he does not adequately address the dynamics of the sort of gross social violence we have seen escalating in recent decades; nor does he recognize the explosive anger and rage underlying these destructive eruptions. Finally, he fails to emphasize the close connection between evil and creativity, and how each of us--despite the constant influence of forces beyond our ken or control--is fully responsible for choosing towar! d which shore we shall swim.
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