THE PSYCHOPATH INSIDE

The memoir of a neuroscientist whose research led him to a bizarre personal discovery. Part memoir, part fascinating science book, THE PSYCHOPATH INSIDE will force readers to rethink what makes us who we are.

Part memoir, part fascinating science book, THE PSYCHOPATH INSIDE will force readers to rethink what makes us who we are.Neuroscientist and psychiatrist James Fallon had spent an entire career studying how our brains affect our behavior when his research turned personal. Fallon had taken a particular interest in convicted serial killers, and while studying the brains of dozens of these violent offenders, he'd noticed a pattern shared by each of them that seemed to indicate a connection between the brain and anti-social (what some call psychopathic) behavior.

The following year, Fallon had set aside these disturbed brains to conduct another study on Alzheimer's disease. As part of the control, he'd scanned the brains of several family members and, while most appeared completely healthy, one perfectly matched the pattern he'd found among the serial killers. This meant one of two things: either there had been a mistake and the scans had been mixed up, or someone in his family was a psychopath.

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

THE PSYCHOPATH INSIDE is Fallon’s account of coming to grips with this discovery and its implications. How could he, a successful scientist and a happy family man who had never been prone to violence, be a psychopath? How much did his biology influence his behavior? Were there things about himself and his personality that he had never known or even considered before?

To answer these questions, Fallon sought to find out what really shaped him. Along the way, he discovered a disturbing and violent family history, a secret gene that suggested a competitive nature, and unknown stories, told to him by family and friends, that forced him to reconsider the man he thought he was. In the end he learned that, despite everything science can teach us, humans are even more complex than we can imagine.
James Fallon is an award-winning neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, where he teaches psychiatry and human behavior. The New York Times called his discovery of the postnatal development of new neurons in the human brain one of the most important and startling findings in "the decade of the brain." His start-up company, NeuroRepair, was voted the top new biotech firm of the year and has engineered major breakthroughs in stem-cell research. He frequently provides expert analysis on crime and terrorism psychology to multiple media outlets, has appeared as himself on the TV drama Criminal Minds, and was prominently featured in the BBC production Are You Good or Evil?