Rating: 
Summary: A Standout in "True Crime"
Review: This book makes an interesting matched pair with Richard Rhodes "Why They Kill."Rhodes examines the social roots of violence, and Dr. Lewis examines the neurologic roots of violence. She pretty much convinced me (not that I needed much convincing) that we're executing a large number of people whose elevators don't go to the top story. My support for the death penalty, already weak, was basically extinct by the time I finished "Guilty by Reason of Insanity." Quibbles? Sure. Even in a popular book, it would be nice to have a more detailed explanation of the neuroscience underlying her work. Lewis tosses in the occasional technical explanation, but if you're at all interested in the medicine behind the story, you're not going to be satisfied (I'm going to take a look at "Behavioral Neurology," written by her mentor and co-worker Jonathan Pincus). Lewis is also forbidden (apparently for legal and/or ethical reasons) for talking about some of her most famous patients, including John Lennon's killer, and apparently Ted Bundy. They get mentioned, but not discussed in any detail. It's also a woman's story told in a woman's way. I like women (in fact I'm married to one and have one for a daughter), but there are times when the male reader will feel like yelling "I don't *care* how you felt about all this, just tell me what happened!" :-)
Rating:
Summary: Hardly a Liberal
Review: Though I'm a proponent of the death penalty, reading this book in the last 24 hours, I have reasons to question it, especially in the context of abused criminals who reenact their abuse onto others. Lewis has made me question my cut and dry attitude and has shown me the gapping hole in my bag of logic, truth, and criminology. Guilty By Reason of Insanity leaves me with more questions than answers. Though this isn't a genre that I read, Lewis's writing has me hungering for more answers.
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