The Measure of Madness

Inside the Disturbed and Disturbing Criminal Mind

De: Cheryl Paradis, Katherine Ramsland - foreword

Narrado por: Callie Beaulieu

At the heart of countless crimes lie the mysteries of the human mind. In this eye-opening book, Dr. Cheryl Paradis draws back the curtain on the fascinating world of forensic psychology, and revisits the most notorious and puzzling cases she has handled in her multifaceted career.

Her riveting, sometimes shocking stories reveal the crucial and often surprising role forensic psychology plays in the pursuit of justice - in which the accused may truly believe their own bizarre lies, creating a world that pushes them into committing horrific, violent crimes.

Join Dr. Paradis in a stark concrete cell with the indicted as she takes on the daunting task of mapping the suspect's madness or exposing it as fakery. Take a front-row seat in a tense, packed courtroom, where her testimony can determine an individual's fate - or if justice will be truly served.

©2010 Cheryl Paradis (P)2019 Tantor

Fascinating

This book dispelled many of the misconceptions I had about the insanity/diminished capacity plea. It was a fascinating and enjoyable listen. Not strictly a true crime book, but more an exploration case study of forensic psychology. Very indicative and interesting.

Great insight into forensic psychology

love the book! It gave me a good sense of what I am getting myself into as a psychology student hoping to enter the forensic field.

Interesting tidbits

Much ado about nothing, with moments of interesting perspective. Proof that "doctors" think they're the smartest in the room, yet can't agree.

Insightful Tour of a Career as an Expert Witness

This was a great book narrating a robust career of an Expert Witness Legal/Forensic Psychologist. It wasn't as clinical as I expected which was excellent. It was more "personal-narrative" driven, with the author describing her trips on the subway, aspects of rooms she interviewed in that she liked or disliked, her personal feelings of excitement, anxiety, being proven right, skepticism, etc. regarding her work. It is a little dated now, since the DSM-5 came out just a year or two after the publication of this book but it is still plenty accurate with largely modern forensic assessment tools in employ. Despite that, it remains a wonderful insight into the career one can make as a Forensic Psychologist working for the courts.

A Real and Informative Perspective!

Whether you are looking for more information about working cases as a forensic psychologist or just enjoy learning about crime in general, this is a very good read. Dr. Paradis definitely helps the reader to understand more about the insanity defense and why it may or may not be used. Sometimes I find it difficult to find books that are real without being super sensational about the crimes and the individuals responsible.
I also think Callie Beaulieu did a good job serving as the narrator and reflecting Dr. Paradis's story accurately.

Better than books I’ve spent a credit on

Wow! This find gives me a reason to maintain my membership. I’ve been working on the prerequisites for an MA in Psychology and think this is a great book for students. It helped me to better understand some of what I’ve learned in Abnormal Psych. The stories/case examples are interesting and insightful but I see value here beyond entertainment. I come away from this with a better understanding of the legal standard of insanity in NY. This book is also helpful to understand the place of Forensic Psychiatric Centers in the crim justice system. I appreciate that this is an easy listen compared to some other great but dense books (like “Anatomy of Violence” on Audible).
If you like this book, I’d recommend “The Best of Minds: A Story of Friendship…” on Audible. That book focuses on just one person, but one who could have been a chapter in this book.

Interesting

The forensic psychologist does more than simple interviews. Fully studying many background details. The case narratives of held my attention. Light reading but an interesting short book.

Insightful and interesting

I appreciated learning how a forensic psychologist evaluates clients and about the various psychological conditions associated with criminal behavior.

Dated content

I was surprised to see the year of publication wasn't decades earlier because the author's language about and characterization of people she evaluated was so out of date ("mental retardation" as opposed to "intellectual disability", for example). She questioned whether a young teen on the streets with no shelter or food, who traded sex with men for money, was in a psychoanalytic homosexual conflict; an irrelevant question blind to social factors. She seemed unaware of trauma-informed or developmental lenses she might have used to understand the possible roots of some criminal behaviors. She spoke repeatedly of colleagues' mistakes and her own vindication in court. Some interesting stories and cases were marred by these distracting and troubling factors.

Due to a massive mistake in the book

Just no!

I stopped reading this after about 5 minutes.

First of all the introduction to the book is to put it mildly boring.

And secondly when the author doesn’t have her facts straight that’s just a NO GO.

The man who shot John Lennon was Mark David Chapman and not John Chapman as the author claims.

When I read a book like this I expected there has been some amount of proofreading before the book is released therefore a mistake like this is not acceptable in my world.

*This review is posted on several platforms