The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain

Written by:
James Fallon
Narrated by:
Walter Dixon

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
209
Narrator
46
Release Date
November 2013
Duration
5 hours 0 minutes
Summary
The memoir of a neuroscientist whose research led him to a bizarre personal discovery

James Fallon had spent an entire career studying how our brains affect our behavior when his research suddenly turned personal. While studying brain scans of several family members, he discovered that one perfectly matched a pattern he'd found in the brains of serial killers. This meant one of two things: Either his family's scans had been mixed up with those of felons or someone in his family was a psychopath.

Even more disturbing: The scan in question was his own.

This is Fallon's account of coming to grips with this discovery and its implications. How could he, a happy family man who had never been prone to violence, be a psychopath? How much did his biology influence his behavior?

Fallon shares his journey to answer these questions and the discoveries that ultimately led to his conclusion: Despite everything science can teach, humans are even more complex than we can imagine.
Reviews
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Anonymous

Honest, insightful, useful, but somewhat insufferable at times. It wasn’t insufferable because of the content, but the subject matter at times was triggering. Like the part where James describes his malicious glee while vaguely recalling the times he covertly exacted revenge against his opposition many years later. It is alarming, chilling, and haunting, and it hits a little too close to home, since many of the readers got the book so they could better understand the psychopaths in their lives. With that said, James’ radical candor was ironically the most selfless thing a prosocial psychopath could do to make society more aware and better spot, understand, prepare, and react to psychopathy.

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Kurt S

I enjoyed the last two chapters 9 and 10 the most. I’m not in the medical field nor in scientific research. I was not impressed by the author’s character. I’m glad we were never friends. The book was helpful.

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Rachel Horsley

Fascinating. i think i found the author almost as interesting as he finds himself. i wonder if there will be a sequel regarding the fall out of this book. Honestly could listen to this man talk anout himself for ages, or go on a booze fuelled adventure with him.

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John H.

This book is almost painful to read, perhaps intentionally so as the author seems a sadist in addition to a psychopath. To call this guy an asshole is to grossly disrespect assholes. But as you will learn if you plow through this non-insightful read, all of his faults are genetic, and he doesn't give a damn what you think.

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Sonia L.

Some part are too technical and dry if you are not well versed in scientific fields. The narrator rushes through some parts for no apparent reason.

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Anonymous

One needs to be quite concentrated to follow, but interesting.

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BarbaraL L.

droning presentation too dry to continue listening.

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Anonymous

interesting in parts but overall reads like the musings of a self confessed narcissist who was very committed to brain science

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Kbridges

I found this audiobook to be incredibly interesting! I appreciated the way it was written, for people who aren’t neuroscientists, to begin to understand the basics of what he’s explaining about his psychopathic brain and other brains. Very well done! I will say, while I enjoyed the narrator, I found him difficult to follow at times, specifically during sections where he’s discussing the genetic traits he inherited and some of chemical processes that effect the brain, but that could be because I’m not a neuroscientist.

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Lisa S.

It's a good read, the narration is really fast, but nevertheless worth reading

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Carmel R.

2.0 Kinda boring and doesn’t add anything new to the popular neuroscience book genre.

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Anonymous

It was an interesting book from perspective of a psychopath who happens to be a neuroscientist

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Nelli Lakatos

After I listened the sample of this book I immediately knew I’m going to love this book! This was an absolutely fascinating memoir of a neuroscientist who while studying brain scans of several family members, he discovered that one perfectly matched a pattern he’d found in psychopaths brains. He discovered that it was his own brain scan. This was a truly phenomenal book, it was entertaining and informative. I loved how the author told his story it gripped me from the very first sentence! I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about psychiatry and the human brain. I loved this book so much it definitely became my new all time favorite!

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David R.

Not very informative or interesting. Not worth the time.

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Amber S

Very informative, interesting, and definitely relatable.

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Dietmar B.

An important read. Mr. Fallon tries hard to impress you with his "honesty" which makes him come across as a pariah and then (I believe) thinks he can convince you that he is quite jolly and means no harm. The only thing scarier than that is the hordes of people than keep surrounding this narcissist in order to benefit. In effect creating him. He is a very dangerous man.

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Daniel C.

The book is at times interesting and at time hard to follow. The interesting parts are very good and relatable (hopefully not the what makes a psychopath part). The fact that this is a bit of the author’s story and path to finding out he is in the Psychopath spectrum makes it more interesting. The Narrator is good and has a good voice that keeps you engaged and into it.

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Bill B.

The narration was too fast, and almost sounded electronic at a few points, overall I enjoyed the book. I Just had to rewind a few times or drink some more coffee.

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Zeke N.

Interesting story, different to hear self-narration of a story.

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Anonymous

I am very helped and impressed by the honesty in this book. So much good information! This helps me understand my son, and also to help him. I feel there is hope and that I can make a big difference in his adult life as his mom. It is empowering to hear how important the connection is for him. (We have a very good connection.) Now I feel less worried he will end up having a destructive life. :) And I still have time to teach him important skills to compensate for what does not come natural to him. Thank you!

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Rob M.

Informative and entertaining

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Laura B.

I really want to listen to and enjoy this book, but the narration is horrible. It speeds up, slows down, it sometimes sounds like the narrator is talking so fast he’s skipping syllables. Then, he’s. So. Slow. You. Could. Expect. A. Period. After. Every. Word.

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Eric S.

Helps tremendously to have some type of understanding of the anatomy of the brain. Very interesting and thought provoking.

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Anonymous

Amazing book! beautifully written, that kept a nice balance between facts and the story of Fallon's life. Highly recommend.

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Nicole Nour

Well written, exciting narrative. Learned a lot about the inner workings of the psychopathic mind. Great read/listen!

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