Auliya B. (auliya) reviewed Guilty by Reason of Insanity: A Psychiatrist Explores the Minds of Killers on + 141 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Very good -- slightly flawed. Still worth reading.
I borrow the word "flawed" from another one of the reviewers. She's right. It is flawed. This book is at once incredible and frustrating. It makes some important points, it's written from a well-educated and well-informed perspective, but it "feels" less rigorous than would satisfy me... not because it isn't, but because the author's style is very conversational, even at times like stream-of-consciousness writing, wandering from point to point without following a clearly defined path.
I appreciate that the author's personality is so "present" in the text. But, at the same time, the conversation she's having with her reader could do with more focus. I was both happy to go along with her wandering style, and also constantly wishing she'd stop and tell me more about her points (support them) and return to them to help conclude her delivery with strength.
Nevertheless, this book was, for me, an excellent introduction to the psychology of violence and the "big secret" kept about killers on Death Row: that they're mildly to severely neurologically impaired. Almost every one of them.
I borrow the word "flawed" from another one of the reviewers. She's right. It is flawed. This book is at once incredible and frustrating. It makes some important points, it's written from a well-educated and well-informed perspective, but it "feels" less rigorous than would satisfy me... not because it isn't, but because the author's style is very conversational, even at times like stream-of-consciousness writing, wandering from point to point without following a clearly defined path.
I appreciate that the author's personality is so "present" in the text. But, at the same time, the conversation she's having with her reader could do with more focus. I was both happy to go along with her wandering style, and also constantly wishing she'd stop and tell me more about her points (support them) and return to them to help conclude her delivery with strength.
Nevertheless, this book was, for me, an excellent introduction to the psychology of violence and the "big secret" kept about killers on Death Row: that they're mildly to severely neurologically impaired. Almost every one of them.
