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MURDEROUS MINDS

Dean Haycock

Exploring the Criminal Psychopathic Brain: Neurological Imaging and the Manifestation of Evil

MURDEROUS MINDS asks: is there a biological basis for evil? From neurological imaging to behavioral studies, Dean Haycock's account of the groundbreaking research reveals what scientists are learning about the psychopaths living among us.
How many times have you seen a murder on the news or on any of the myriad TV crime investigation shows, and said to yourself, "How could someone do something like that?" Today, neuroscientists are imaging, mapping, testing and dissecting the source of the worst behavior imaginable in the brains of the people who lack a conscience: psychopaths. Neuroscientist Dean Haycock examines the behavior of real life psychopaths and discusses how their actions can be explained in scientific terms, from research that literally looks inside their brains to understanding how psychopaths, without empathy but very goal-oriented, think and act the way they do. Some don’t commit crimes at all, but rather make use of their skills in the boardroom. But what does this mean for lawyers, judges, psychiatrists, victims and readers--for anyone who has ever wondered how some people can be so bad. Could your nine-year-old be a psychopath? What about your co-worker? The ability to recognize psychopaths using the scientific method has vast implications for society, and yet is still loaded with consequences. MURDEROUS MINDS is fascinating, scrupulously researched, massively appealing, popular science. Dean Haycock, Ph.D., is a science and medical writer, who earned a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Brown University and studied at The Rockefeller University in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Dr. Paul Greengard. He has been published in many science publications and is the author of The Everything Health Guide to Schizophrenia and The Everything Health Guide to Adult Bipolar Disorder. He lives in New York.
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Published 2014-03-01 by Pegasus

Comments

Chinese: Hachette-Phoenix

A fascinating page-turner. Haycock tries to uncover the correlation between brain abnormalities and violent behavior, and whether one guarantees the other. Such research can certainly begin an important conversation.

An informed, masterful account of the theory, research, controversies, and issues surrounding the construct of psychopathy . . . His balanced and scientifically sound coverage of the literature and issues are admirable and refreshing. Readers not familiar with the technology and procedures of neuroscience will appreciate the way in which Haycock makes the science understandable, interesting, and relevant. Highly recommended.

Murderous Minds is a gem. I became completely immersed in it and lost myself in the world Haycock created at the nexus of science, story, history, complete with downright wondrous narrative yarns to boot.

The existence of a neurologically identifiable signature in the brains of psychopaths is merely the tip of Haycock's iceberg. The real tangle involves the implications—social, legal, judicial, and scientific—of the potential that we could predict someone would become a murderer from his or her brain scan.

Part true crime, part neuroscience and a page-turner from start to finish.