Dexter Dias

A massive book (all of 816 pages, with the end-matter itself constituting a respectable book size by itself!), mitigated by the comfortable paper size and typeface. But then the subject matter perhaps calls for such a size, as the author sets out to explain by case studies of people he has known, and scientific studies, what it is that makes human beings act in atrocious ways with violence and brutality, both to 'outsiders' and within families, while on the other hand showing affection to some persons or on some occasions. He divides the study into so many human types, such as the Perceiver of Pain, the Tamer of Terror, the Beholder, and so on. These are, I gather, not so much personality types, as the competing and co-existing modes of behaviour that reside within each of us, only some modes are expressed more frequently or strongly in some people, or in some societal environments. It is a disturbing book, if the cases the author recounts are authentic, and portrays the depths to which humanity descends, even in so-called civilised societies. None of us should be complacent in our essential virtue, as the beast also lurks within. Among other things, the author tries to tease out how evolution has affected the expression of these types, drawing on the concept of 'modules' in the brain; this is perhaps the less well-developed part of the work, as he leaves unexplained how millions of years of experience are incorporated into the genome: is it a revival of Lamarckian theory? On a minor note, the style is a bit unconventional, pursuing multiple threads all in parallel, frequently cutting back and forth in time and geography, sometimes leaving you wondering what is hypothetical and what factual; this may be slightly off-putting, unless you like the more 'imaginative' style.… (mais)

Summary:

A book about some pretty messed up things that happen in the world and trying to bring a lense of neuroscience and perspective to help us understand these things.

Things I liked:

Clear assumptions and hypothesis outlined at the start

Things I thought could have been improved

Argument wandered towards the middle/end of the book and became more about the author's experience and finishing off the stories/humanitarian-focus than the neuro-science focus that the author began with. I think this could have been called out in the early chapters of the book.

The 10 archetypes I think are a bit uneven with early ones like the 'kinsman' kind of explain a lot more than others. 10 seems a fairly arbitrary number and was probably chosen by marketers vs well thought out rationale.

Highlight:

I think the stories about the Kid being sold into slavery when he went for coke was where I started getting chills. The whole things is full of stories that really get you thinking.… (mais)