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The Sociopath Next Door
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
Who is the devil you know? Is it your lying, cheating ex-husband? Your sadistic high school gym teacher? Your boss who loves to humiliate people in meetings? The colleague who stole your idea and passed it off as her own? In the pages of The Sociopath Next Door, you will realize that your ex was not just misunderstood. Hes a sociopath. And your boss, teacher, and colleague? They may be sociopaths too. We are accustomed to think of sociopaths as violent criminals, but in The Sociopath Next Door, Harvard psychologist Martha Stout reveals that a shocking 4 percent of ordinary peopleone in twenty-fivehas an often undetected mental disorder, the chief symptom of which is that that person possesses no conscience. He or she has no ability whatsoever to feel shame, guilt, or remorse. One in twenty-five everyday Americans, therefore, is secretly a sociopath. They could be your colleague, your neighbor, even family. And they can do literally anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt. How do we recognize the remorseless? One of their chief characteristics is a kind of glow or charisma that makes sociopaths more charming or interesting than the other people around them. Theyre more spontaneous, more intense, more complex, or even sexier than everyone else, making them tricky to identify and leaving us easily seduced. Fundamentally, sociopaths are different because they cannot love. Sociopaths learn early on to show sham emotion, but underneath they are indifferent to others suffering. They live to dominate and thrill to win. The fact is, we all almost certainly know at least one or more sociopaths already. Part of the urgency in reading The Sociopath Next Door is the moment when we suddenly recognize that someone we knowsomeone we worked for, or were involved with, or voted foris a sociopath. But what do we do with that knowledge? To arm us against the sociopath, Dr. Stout teaches us to question authority, suspect flattery, and beware the pity play. Above all, she writes, when a sociopath is beckoning, do not join the game. It is the ruthless versus the rest of us, and The Sociopath Next Door will show you how to recognize and defeat the devil you know.
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RickW
Pickpick

I liked this. Although I am not 100% certain that everyone in the vignettes was a card carrying sociopath. Stout does identify a few earmark characteristics that appear to be on the radar of many sociopaths. In all this was a very good read and her attempt to define and discuss conscience was very informative. A few psychologists have deemed the book to be pop culture alarmism and I can see why, however Stout has some very good points.

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9mo
1 comment
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DogMomIrene
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Pickpick

Learned some interesting facts about sociopaths. Various studies and statistics throughout the book mixed with case study type stories. Sometimes the person being featured was the sociopath and Stout would deconstruct their behavior/choices. Other times it was a victim of a sociopath who Stout counseled. Either way, the stories of how the sociopaths see the world were my favorite part of this book.

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MatchlessMarie
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My hold finally came in so I gonna try to finish that one along with my in progress books. Also I started reading Flowers for Algernon last month on kindle but the audiobook just came available so I may restart that one. #WeeklyForecast

Cinfhen Looks like a good selection of books 🥰enjoy 4y
46 likes1 comment
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MatchlessMarie
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I would have just added the tagged book in addition to my in progress books, but I‘m still waiting on my hold (though I am first in line) so I‘m adding a couple extras in case it doesn‘t come in time. #WeeklyForecast

Cinfhen Hope the hold comes in!!! 4y
41 likes1 comment
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reema
Pickpick

I have dealt with a few sociopaths in my time, unfortunately, and I felt the book showed classic examples of the types you‘re likely to meet. People may think they‘re caricatures of people but they aren‘t. This confirmed things that I saw, things that I felt, and made me grateful that I‘m not dealing with that anymore. So, if you think it‘s full of shit, you‘ve lived a pretty lucky life. Thank your lucky stars and read something else.

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Charityann
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Pickpick

#audiowalk today. Finished the tagged book. Interesting read especially if you‘re interested in psychology. 📚🐕📖

Deblovestoread What a cutie! 4y
erinachu Oh my gosh! The best doggie! 😍 4y
Gissy Ahhh🐶❤️❤️❤️❤️ 4y
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick 😍Please tell your dog I say hello with a little belly rub. 4y
47 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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faelinwolf
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Mehso-so

I'm having complicated feelings about this book. I'm bothered by the author's ideas of sociopaths & her diagnosis of people in her client's lives as sociopaths. I'm uncertain about how she has so much knowledge of their behavior when she has had no socipaths or folks with Antisocial Personality Disorder as clients herself (as far as I can tell). The discussion of conscience was much more interesting. #BookSpin #BookSpinBonanza
@TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Great review! And I really appreciate the way your cat's eyes line up with the cover! 😂 5y
faelinwolf @TheAromaofBooks I was trying to be creative with the pic! 😹 5y
14 likes2 comments
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faelinwolf
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#BookSpinBonanza in order to be read! Top left is first. Let's see how far I get! I'm so excited! 😁😁😁

@TheAromaofBooks

Clwojick You‘ve got this!!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻 5y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Can't wait to see your thoughts on your books!! 5y
26 likes2 comments
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faelinwolf
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I'm gonna give this #BookspinBonanza a try! Not the best pic of my books, but... I chose from my bookshelves, of course, & tried to choose books I've been wanting to read or that I had been excited about when I got them. Carry On is a reread so I can get to Wayward Son. A Fistful of Charms is also a reread as I'm trying to reread the series in anticipation of the new book coming out later this year (in May? I'm way behind).

@TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Glad to have you along!! Not sure how familiar you are, but usually I only draw two numbers (#BookSpin & #DoubleSpin) but for fun this month I am going to draw all 20 numbers & some of us are going to see how far we can get reading our piles in the order drawn. You are welcome to come along for however many numbers you want!! 5y
faelinwolf @TheAromaofBooks I'm gonna go for it! I want to see how many I can read! 😄 5y
TheAromaofBooks That's the kind of attitude I like to see around here! 😂 5y
marleed On my list too is 5y
12 likes4 comments
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RavenLovelyReads
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Monday night reads...and cookies!

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keithmalek
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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18 likes1 stack add
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executivespooky
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Finally listening to this 👌 not usually an audiobook person, but it's pretty good so far.

10 likes4 stack adds
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Wife
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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Mehso-so

Mostly dry with a few very interesting vignettes that illustrate the variety of sociopathic behaviors. We all know sociopaths. They make up 4% of the American population. They are masters of their game and thoroughly enjoy manipulation of others for their gain (and entertainment). 2/5⭐️

60 likes1 stack add
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REHill
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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“1 in 25.” The scariest part is realizing even beyond this statistic, empathy & conscience is easily forgone or trumped by other social orders. Important topics.

RaimeyGallant Adding. 7y
12 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Chocamanda
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Pickpick

While I enjoyed this one, I couldn't help but compare it to Confessions of a Sociopath and The Psychopath test, both of which I've read recently. The information in TSND was interesting and the case studies were compelling. If I had one complaint it would be that the case studies she used we amalgamations of many patients, which means they were basically fictional. I prefer anecdotal evidence that only alters identifying info of the subjects 3.5⭐️

RaimeyGallant I would feel the same way. 7y
27 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Alicia
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Pickpick

This book was amazing!!! I listened to the audio and highly recommend it. Even though it was written in 2003 the information still feels so applicable. Fascinating look at sociopathic behavior, where it comes from and how to guard against it.

Chocamanda I finished Confessions of a Sociopath recently and have been debating reading The Sociopath Next Door. I think I'm bumping that up on my TBR. Thanks for mentioning that it's great on audio, now I have something to listen to at work this week 🤓 7y
Alicia @Chocamanda ooh yay! I am totally going to add that to my TBR. I hope you like this one!! 7y
bookcollecter I've read this book three times! The real life case stories are frighteningly eye-opening 6y
87 likes6 stack adds3 comments
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louiselee
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Pickpick

questioning everyone around me. 🧐

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guinsgirlreads
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@MaleficentBookDragon I love it! Thank you!!! I‘m so pumped to read the books you picked so my #easterbasketbookswap ! This is just wonderful 🐣! I have to work today, so the ears will be coming!! 🐰 And I can‘t even lie the Peeps look sooo good! 👀
Thank you! 😘

@JoeStalksBeck thank you for hosting !

Betty I read the description of the tagged book and shuddered. I know quite a few 7y
guinsgirlreads @Betty I‘m sure we all do! I studied psychology so it‘s my kind of book! 7y
MaleficentBookDragon I‘m so happy you like everything! I had fun picking out the books from you #TBR list. And thank you again. The package you sent was amazing and made my week. 7y
guinsgirlreads @MaleficentBookDragon Awesome! 👍🏻❤️ Thank you! 7y
53 likes4 comments
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amb
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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Mehso-so

I finished it this morning and I can say I'm sufficiently worried. It seems everyone I know is a sociopath. It has anecdotal stories to illustrate the ways people can be sociopathic, but it was a bit more textbooky than I thought it would be

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amb
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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1. I have Neon Angel on hold at library, it's old but I'm excited about it.
2. Nope, no such luck
3. Tulips
4. Black Jelly Beans and Chocolate eggs only if they are filled with peanut butter. Otherwise I'd choose neither.

#manicmonday @JoScho

JoScho Tulips 🌷💛 7y
8 likes1 comment
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Jen2
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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Pickpick

Fascinating!!!

KeeWee I read this, too! Didn‘t realize how many socio‘s there are out there 😳 7y
114 likes11 stack adds1 comment
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CuriousG
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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Pickpick

Slight cheat on this - 11yrs, not 10. I went into this knowing these types of books play off fear & making mundane fantastical. That being said, I enjoyed it. I think it's true that many people around us have at least some traits associated with sociopathy - and that these traits may in fact lead to success for some (in competitive environments where empathy may actually hold you back.) #sadbuttrue #published10yearsago #litsy2017readingchallenge

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ShannonOffDuty
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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Pickpick

Cool read. Perhaps a survival guide, really. By the way, you probably know a sociopath!

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Victoriahoperose
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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Mehso-so

This was pretty dry. I also thought she was going to use actual cases that were well known and it was mostly just anecdotes based on fact. The were some interesting points made and research done but overall it just didn‘t keep my attention.

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CaitlinByTheBook
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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Pickpick

This was quite an interesting read. Lots of information and theories. Some of the writing was weighed down with double negatives, complicated metaphors and run on sentences, but overall I found it informative and thought provoking. It was also a conversation starter when I was reading it at the gym. 😂 (My cat liked it too.)

13 likes1 stack add
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JGadz11
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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Sahar
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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"Minds differ still more than faces. --Voltaire #amreading #research #psychology

13 likes4 stack adds
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JessClark78
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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Zelma That phantom felines cover creeps me the hell out! 8y
JessClark78 @Zelma It is pretty creepy. 8y
60 likes2 comments
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Gina
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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Mehso-so

This book had moments where I felt the author really hit the mark. Unfortunately for me I felt her "case studies" were very dumbed down and full of details she seemed to embellished to get her point across. At times I wasn't even sure I was reading a case study or if she was creating a story to make a point. She also threw bits in (like when she was at a bon fire) which for me loosely related to the book and just felt like filler.

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Echo
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
Pickpick

This was a great insight into sociopathy. It seems a rather dire subject but the book closes on a very hopeful note.

22 likes2 stack adds
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Echo
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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LauraJ Have you read The Psycopath test? It's a good good companion read for Stout's book. 8y
Echo No! But I am adding it to the list. Thank you @LauraJ 8y
21 likes2 comments
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Echo
The Sociopath Next Door | Martha Stout, Ph.D.
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Anyone else getting mentally ready for the holidays? 😐🙊✅

Laura317 Well, this explains my sister-in-law. 8y
Lizpixie @Laura317 🙌🙌 I've been with my hubby for 23 years & the only time his sister spoke to me was to tell me I wasn't good enough for her brother. That was 23 yrs ago. 8y
Laura317 @Lizpixie Her loss! 8y
Echo My FIL is a sociopath 🙄 8y
15 likes2 stack adds5 comments