Blog Summary 4

In chapter 7 of Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test, Ronson discusses his journalist techniques with a friend, Adam Curtis. Adam criticizes Ronson's techniques, but thinks he has done better than some. For instance, he talks about a woman named Charlotte Scott. She wanted to be a journalist, but eventually she became a guest booker for television shows. She admitted to finding the most entertaining, crazy guests for the shows by first finding out what medications they took. Charlotte said she could identify how mad someone was by their medication. If they weren't taking any medication, they weren't mad enough; but if they were taking some type of medication for psychosis, then they were too mad. She had to find and in between. Ronson is thankful that he hasn't done things as bad as what comes close to what Charlotte did.

I liked both chapters; however, I was a little confused as to why chapter 6 was in the book. I understood most of it, but I didn't get the main point. The book is good, and I enjoy reading it. Although, I find that Ronson talks too much about Bob Hare's checklist now, and he doesn't talk much about anything else. I guess I'm just wondering if this book is going anywhere, and if there is any real point as to why Ronson wrote it or if he just wrote it because he was curious about psychopaths.