The Science of Evil

On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty

By: Simon Baron-Cohen

Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley

Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Borderline personality disorder, autism, narcissism, psychosis, Asperger's: All of these syndromes have one thing in common---lack of empathy. In some cases, this absence can be dangerous, but in others it can simply mean a different way of seeing the world. In The Science of Evil, Simon Baron-Cohen, an award-winning British researcher who has investigated psychology and autism for decades, develops a new brain-based theory of human cruelty. A true psychologist, however, he examines social and environmental factors that can erode empathy, including neglect and abuse. Based largely on Baron-Cohen's own research, The Science of Evil will change the way we understand and treat human cruelty.

©2011 Simon Baron-Cohen (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Baron-Cohen's professorial background shines through in the book's tone and in step-by-step, engaging prose urging both academic and lay reader alike to journey with him in scientific inquiry." ( Publishers Weekly)

A perspective that is original

Would you listen to The Science of Evil again? Why?

The science is amazing; his conclusion definitely opens up the topic to debate even if you don't agree but it will make a reader think deeply about the motivations behind human action

Insightful & revolutionary

What made the experience of listening to The Science of Evil the most enjoyable?

In his insightful book, Mr Baron-Cohen suggests that "measures of empathy" be used as both a solution and a system with which to evaluate people on a medical (psychiatric) and societal (judicial) level, rather than with the current labels used to define psychiatric (often perceived as evil) conditions. The writer uses his research to redefine "evil" in a way that gives the reader hope that science can contribute positively to solving our collective moral and world problems. I would have enjoyed more chapters about how and why empathy might fluctuate in a person over time (moments, days, weeks, months, years and life time). But his is a truly revolutionary way of looking at psychology and psychiatry. Incredibly insightful.

What does Jonathan Cowley bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Great narrator. Loved the pace and clarity.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The last chapter forced me to re examine some of my beliefs.

Any additional comments?

Excellent, excellent book.

The science of empathy...

Although the title of this book is the science of evil, I believe it speaks more to the science of empathy. Empathy is conveyed as a bell shaped phenomena that we experience everyone around us, and he goes into details on those in the lowest levels of empathy. Some critical thoughts I had where that I have found in clinical experience people with Borderline Personality Disorder do not have zero empathy as he states, but perhaps a misguided empathy. I have found that many people with BPD do go on to become therapists or psychiatrist by the very nature that they are capable of feeling what others experience more vividly then normal people. However this is perhaps something that only occurs through good therapy or religious experience as those with BPD heal. I do however believe that those with BPD who are in an episode, often do to perceived abandonment, of stripping of the social veneer that holds them together, do in fact have zero empathy for a short time. The other thing I would have appreciated more was how the author thinks such evil as defined by lack of empathy can be overcome. Overall I found the book very helpful in a way of understanding empathy and it has sparked my interest in reading more on the topic. I do highly recommend this listening to this book!

Great read

Good read very informative. The book covers lots of origin. Giving great examples from the brains perspective.

well done

great book with tons of valuable information.I would definitely recommend this book. three more words.

So true

wish there was info about those Involved in gangs and those youth involved in this culture.

Idealistic to a fault

The clinical aspects of this book were very enlightening, However “To be kind to an enemy is to be cruel to oneself”. Instead of being kind to monsters the author should consider the victims of said monster…Past, present and future some people are evil by choice. Every kindness shown to a psychopath gives them another opportunity. Perhaps the author should open his home and family to these monsters and start his own halfway house, I assure you he won’t remain idealistic for long.

Good, until the end

The author presents the scientific, brain-based view of lack of empathy as the source for various personality disorders, some of which are associated with cruelty and mistreatment of others. He differentiates positive and negative types of zero empathy. This helped put a realistic view on the concept of "evil", away from a religious definition, which is nebulous at best.

His polemic at the end was unnecessary and detracted from the scientific basis for the book.

Lacks useful advice

I was hoping this book to be about spotting sociopaths, or at least showing how they think, not quite.

The author is certainly a specialist on the subject, but his objective with this book is to make the general public aware of the need of a better way to classify sociopaths on the DSM, with empathy as reference. And that's about it.

I understand that some people might find this kind of subject interesting but I think that if I can't use what I read in a practical way it's not.

It was okay

I had a hard copy of the book and some things that where in the book weren’t oh the audio version but overall it was good