REVIEW: ‘Humankind’ by Rutger Bregman

We’re all familiar with the notion of a placebo. We all know how powerful placebos can be, but it’s perhaps rarer to recognise the power of noceboes. In ‘Humankind’, Rutger Bregman is determined to disabuse us of one particularly devastating nocebo, ‘veneer theory’. This is the widely accepted idea that our civil natures are only […]

September 14, 2020 Book Reviews, Non-fiction Read More →

Confessions: the inner life of a successful sociopath

Unreliable narrators fascinate me and other people’s psychological states intrigue me. So it’s not surprising that when I spotted ‘Confessions of a Sociopath’ it went straight onto my wish list. What’s it about? M.E. Thomas is (apparently) a successful American law professor writing about her sociopathy under a pseudonym. Originally, she founded a blog – […]

March 14, 2014 Book Reviews, Non-fiction Read More →