What a wonderful book. I must admit the title didn't exactly grab my interest, and I might never have picked it up were it not for the fact that it was written by one of my favourite authors. I'm very glad I did. This is, to me, easily the most interesting work Bryson has done since his 'Short History of Nearly Everything'.
Bryson moves from room to room throughout his home and explains the history behind each both in a general manner and one specific to his actual house. The result is surprisingly fascinating. Who would have thought that a history of the fusebox could be so interesting?
I can't recommend this book enough. Treat yourself to a great read and buy this book.

I guess the title I gave for this review sums up my feelings about the book. It should be noted that I work in the public sector, so I wasn't really the target audience the authors had in mind.
Having said that, I felt rather disappointed with the hypothetical characters that were used in the case studies. I can readily understand the restrictions the authors felt they were under in using actual people, but the lack of authenticity decreased my interest. There were times that I felt the authors manipulated the case study characters to fit their thesis (ironic when one considers that they are discussing manipulative sociopaths).
I think this book would serve those working in upper management and/or human resources in a large corporation quite well, but I can not recommend it to the casual reader. Overall, it was readable, but I can not say I was particularly excited by the final result.

Buying this book was a bit of a crap-shoot for me. I wasn't quite sure if the content would prove interesting, but, geek that I am, I had to give it a shot.
I am glad that I was willing to take a chance. Written with engaging anecdotes, the author manages to draw the reader in to seemingly uninteresting subject matter. The story behind the title of the book is a good case in point, but far be it for me to spoil Kean's tale.
Despite his very reader-friendly style, it should be noted that there are places where the science may get a tad heavy for those with only a smattering of chemistry and physics (i.e. your friendly reviewer). I took the 'Russian novel' approach to the areas I had some difficulty understanding and slogged my way through them to get to the 'good stuff' (i.e. the stuff I understood).
Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn a bit more about the world of Science. Kean's tales are both entertaining and informative.
(One word of caution: be prepared for small amounts of ridicule when you tell others that your are reading a book about the history of the periodic table. I tried to talk my way out of this, but, ultimately, this is just a razzing you're going to have to take.)

This is not the best work I've read of this genre, but it is certainly worth an investment of your time. Stout peppers psychological theory with interesting anecdotes that one assumes(hopes?) are true, but which, for fairly obvious reasons, are very difficult to verify.
A word to the wise: if you read a few books of this kind, you will find yourself spotting sociopaths everywhere. I doubt Stout's statistic of 4% in terms of these people, but the statistic sticks with me nonetheless.

Want to read a long list of unsolved crimes? Well, you've found your book.
I truly enjoyed the first part of this story in which she outlines why and how she became a profiler, but it went downhill from there. Brown details case after case in which she is sure she has found the killer... only to run into some problem that keeps the case from being solved. I gave up 4/5 of the way through the book, so perhaps she actually brought a killer to justice at some point, but I found I no longer cared.
Profilers like John Douglas may be egomaniacs, but at least they have some results. Brown's book reads like a long list of 'Oh I came so close' and I eventually abandoned my journey with her.

If you haven't treated yourself to Ronson's work, you owe it to yourself. I first stumbled upon his writing in a bargain bin where I picked up 'Them' for 2 dollars. I am hard-pressed to think of a better-spent two bucks from any point in my life. Fortunately for me, I was able to pick up 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' immediately after reading 'Them' and found it equally engaging.
Ronson does not disappoint in this, his third effort. The book draws the reader in from the first page and does not relent until the final. The fact that Ronson suffers from anxiety issues makes his dealings with psychopaths all the more interesting. There were moments in my reading when I literally felt chills go through my body (read the part on the Haitian death-squad leader).
I can not recommend this book highly enough. I encourage anyone who enjoys a well-told true story to invest in this tale. You will not be disappointed.