Jon Ronson, author of the international bestselling books The Men Who Stare at Goats and Them: Adventures with Extremists, did not actively seek out the disturbing realm of the criminally insane. It came to him. When dozens of the world’s top neurologists received copies of a taunting, expensive handmade book that was a puzzle on every level, they enlisted Ronson – an award-winning journalist with a keen interest in the fascinating fringes of society – to help them solve the mystery of its source and purpose. What began for Ronson as an international hunt for the perpetrator of an eerie prank soon became a deeper search for an understanding of psychopaths and the people who devote their lives to identifying, studying, and controlling them – a quest he captivatingly chronicles in THE PSYCHOPATH TEST: A Journey Through the Madness Industry.

What Ronson learns is chilling. As many as 2.5 out of every 100 people are psychopathic, meaning that they are so deficient in empathy and conscience that they pose a serious threat to their fellow human beings. Among prisoners, the percentage rises to about 25%, and up to 70% of violent crime is believed to be committed by psychopaths. Even more alarmingly, Ronson found that the higher up the professional and social ladder you go, the higher the percentage of psychopaths. Among top corporate officers, for example, nearly 4% score extremely high on the Psychopath Test.

In THE PSYCHOPATH TEST, Jon Ronson once again displays his extraordinary talent for telling compelling stories filled with unforgettable characters while mining offbeat, menacing worlds for rich and significant – and surprisingly hilarious – findings. His trademark mixture of humor, heart, and the ability to ask the right question at the right time to get the perfect (and sometimes absurd) answer makes his look at the madness industry eye-opening, witty, and uniquely engaging.