Review Evil Author Julia Shaw

Evil Author Julia Shaw Characters ó 2 What is it about evil that we find so compelling From our obsession with serial killers to violence in pop culture we seem inescapably drawn to the stories of monstrous acts and the aberrant people who commit them But evil Dr Julia Shaw argues is all relative roote. Book Blog BookstagramOpening Thesis Evil is just a misunderstandingMain Evil Apparently pedophiles aren t that badThesis Conclusion Shockingly shallowI really wanted to like this and I m having a hard time with the rating because I didn t like this and frankly parts of it are so off putting I want to toss it out a windowBut it s not a bad book either in terms of writing ualityMy biggest problem really comes down to the fact that this book is not about the science behind humanity s dark side as the cover suggestsI wanted to learn about the brain human chemistry nature vs nurture I wanted case studies and scientific journals and theories and experiments What I got was the author explaining why evil is subjective and nothing is really bad because all humans fuck up The overall theme boils down to rethinking evil While that may be a provocative topic to tackle I wouldn t have necessarily started the book with the argument that we should reconsider labelling Hitler as evilThere is actually very little science backed study and explanation in this book The author invokes the Milgram Experiment to discuss the banality of evil and then uses the Stanford Prison Experiment to explore group think but never mentions that many issues with that study that led to it being discredited Shaw doesn t do a very good job at tying the referenced studies to the points she s trying to make they are loosely thrown together and barely make a correlationThere s a passive defence for everything from pedophiles and bestiality to the idea that words like murderer and rapist are hypocritical and heinous definitions we as a species label people unfairly with when really we ve all made mistakes as human beingsI probably should have stopped reading after that shit but nevertheless I persisted and what I found was a shallow argument against the idea of evil and a swath of the author s biased opinions and personal background While I admire her dedication to speaking her truth about her sexuality it seemed to act only as a jumping off point for the author to become preachy to the readerShe approached her writing with an occasionally holier than thou tone that came across like I know this is how the world should work and the rest of you should just shut up While I agree with her on topics like the LGBT community or the industrial prison complex I have to wonder who exactly she thought she was preaching to Who was the audience for that Hellooooo I wanted to read about science and bad people You already got me on the liberal principalsShaw also goes on to take some strange soap box stances on things such as normalizing abhorrent sexual practices and suggesting that people harm animals because we re protecting our brains from cuteness overload And to me that s fucking stupid Sorry but also not sorry because it s seriously fucking stupidTHIS IS NOT WHAT I CAME HERE FORI was looking for actual science based non fiction that would enlighten me on the evil aspects of humanity and on why people do the fucked up things we do Instead this is a lot of personal speculation by the author meant to support her opinion that nothing is really evil we re just misunderstanding the human conditionWhatever Maybe that s true Everything is subjective and there are no firm black and white rules that tell us how this shit is supposed to work so we make them up as we go along with the basic understanding that we should do our best to not hurt anyone We learn we grow we allow marriage rights abortion rightswe continue to evolve as we learn what is doing the most harm or the leastWe arrive at the conclusion that murder is wrong hurting animals is wrong exterminating an entire group of people because you don t like their religion is wrong and so is sexually abusing childrenShaw momentarily brings up the idea that one man s terrorist is another man s freedom fighter but abandons the point without too much exploration Again subjectively true but in purely rational terms there must be some kind of agreement on what is right and what is wrong or else we fall apart as a societyWithin those terms dying on the hill pedophilia is just misunderstood is not a good lookThere was also a lot of contradicting arguments in the book One that stood out to me was Shaw s stance on porn it s not that bad and we should stop being so critical of the porn industry and those obsessed with it and maybe we should allow porn to be used in health classes But later in the book goes on to wag her finger at misogyny chastising society for allowing ourselves to become over saturated with images of women that promote an unhealthy idea of sex and women s bodies ultimately leading to demeaning women in societyHow are those two positions not in conflict with each otherI justThis whole book is filled with Nietzsche uotes in between Shaw opening up a can of worms with an opinion and then dropping the follow up real fast without giving a full argument for her pointOverall I found the arguments made in the book to be super lame easy and lacking any kind of real conviction or solid backing evidence It s like she just sat down and wrote a bunch of offensive uestions and called it a dayAfter all the op ed style writing and soap boxing everything comes down to the semantics of the word evil instead of the actual science behind people who have dark objectively negative impulses and how science explains these thingsThat s the book I wanted to read That s not this book 2 stars Francis Bacon Important Paintings from the Estate violence in pop culture we seem inescapably drawn to the stories of monstrous acts and the aberrant people who commit them But evil Dr Julia Shaw argues is all relative roote. Book Blog BookstagramOpening Thesis Evil is just a misunderstandingMain Evil Apparently pedophiles aren t that badThesis Conclusion Shockingly shallowI really wanted to like this and I m having a hard time with the rating because I didn t like this and frankly parts of it are so off putting I want to toss it out a windowBut it s not a bad book either in terms of writing ualityMy biggest problem really comes down to the fact that this book is not about the science behind humanity s dark side as the cover suggestsI wanted to learn about the brain human chemistry nature Bracebridge Hall vs nurture I wanted case studies and scientific journals and theories and experiments What I got was the author explaining why evil is subjective and nothing is really bad because all humans fuck up The overall theme boils down to rethinking evil While that may be a provocative topic to tackle I wouldn t have necessarily started the book with the argument that we should reconsider labelling Hitler as evilThere is actually My Guinea Pig (My Pet Series) very little science backed study and explanation in this book The author invokes the Milgram Experiment to discuss the banality of evil and then uses the Stanford Prison Experiment to explore group think but never mentions that many issues with that study that led to it being discredited Shaw doesn t do a Hypoxia: Man at Altitude very good job at tying the referenced studies to the points she s trying to make they are loosely thrown together and barely make a correlationThere s a passive defence for everything from pedophiles and bestiality to the idea that words like murderer and rapist are hypocritical and heinous definitions we as a species label people unfairly with when really we The Po�sies Diverses of Antoine Fureti�re ve all made mistakes as human beingsI probably should have stopped reading after that shit but nevertheless I persisted and what I found was a shallow argument against the idea of evil and a swath of the author s biased opinions and personal background While I admire her dedication to speaking her truth about her sexuality it seemed to act only as a jumping off point for the author to become preachy to the readerShe approached her writing with an occasionally holier than thou tone that came across like I know this is how the world should work and the rest of you should just shut up While I agree with her on topics like the LGBT community or the industrial prison complex I have to wonder who exactly she thought she was preaching to Who was the audience for that Hellooooo I wanted to read about science and bad people You already got me on the liberal principalsShaw also goes on to take some strange soap box stances on things such as normalizing abhorrent sexual practices and suggesting that people harm animals because we re protecting our brains from cuteness overload And to me that s fucking stupid Sorry but also not sorry because it s seriously fucking stupidTHIS IS NOT WHAT I CAME HERE FORI was looking for actual science based non fiction that would enlighten me on the evil aspects of humanity and on why people do the fucked up things we do Instead this is a lot of personal speculation by the author meant to support her opinion that nothing is really evil we re just misunderstanding the human conditionWhatever Maybe that s true Everything is subjective and there are no firm black and white rules that tell us how this shit is supposed to work so we make them up as we go along with the basic understanding that we should do our best to not hurt anyone We learn we grow we allow marriage rights abortion rightswe continue to evolve as we learn what is doing the most harm or the leastWe arrive at the conclusion that murder is wrong hurting animals is wrong exterminating an entire group of people because you don t like their religion is wrong and so is sexually abusing childrenShaw momentarily brings up the idea that one man s terrorist is another man s freedom fighter but abandons the point without too much exploration Again subjectively true but in purely rational terms there must be some kind of agreement on what is right and what is wrong or else we fall apart as a societyWithin those terms dying on the hill pedophilia is just misunderstood is not a good lookThere was also a lot of contradicting arguments in the book One that stood out to me was Shaw s stance on porn it s not that bad and we should stop being so critical of the porn industry and those obsessed with it and maybe we should allow porn to be used in health classes But later in the book goes on to wag her finger at misogyny chastising society for allowing ourselves to become over saturated with images of women that promote an unhealthy idea of sex and women s bodies ultimately leading to demeaning women in societyHow are those two positions not in conflict with each otherI justThis whole book is filled with Nietzsche uotes in between Shaw opening up a can of worms with an opinion and then dropping the follow up real fast without giving a full argument for her pointOverall I found the arguments made in the book to be super lame easy and lacking any kind of real conviction or solid backing evidence It s like she just sat down and wrote a bunch of offensive uestions and called it a dayAfter all the op ed style writing and soap boxing everything comes down to the semantics of the word evil instead of the actual science behind people who have dark objectively negative impulses and how science explains these thingsThat s the book I wanted to read That s not this book 2 stars

Evil Author Julia Shaw Characters ó 2 D in our uniue cultures What one may consider normal like sex before marriage eating meat or being a banker others find abhorrent And if evil is only in the eye of the beholder can it be said to exist at all In Evil Shaw uses case studies from academia examples fro. What is evil What makes certain choices and actions evil Does evil exist independently Or does it need an oppositegoodto manifest Is evil subjectiveor universalDr Julia Shaw takes a close in depth look at evil in her new book But this isn t the sort of book that most might expect It isn t a bloody dissection of evil behavior in detail or a discussion of pros and cons about punishment or treatment for those who commit serious acts of violence or crime Dr Shaw instead looks at the science behind human behavior She points out in her introduction that her book is NOT about philosophy morality religious views or about punishmentconseuences for aberrant behaviorit s about WHY human beings do the things they do what in the makeup of human beings allows violent or evil choices and what behaviors seem to be present in a person to make them capable of evil Dr Shaw breaks down the wide concept of Evil into smaller pieces using science to explain human behavior I read my way through this tome about the nature of evil slowly and thoughtfully I wanted to give my brain time to formulate its opinions on Dr Shaw s theories For me the idea that any human being can be capable of evil in certain situations is chilling and disturbing I m not saying that it isn t trueI m saying that it is a rough revelation We all want to see ourselves as the good separated from those we see as evil murderers rapists criminals pedophiles etc But are we really separate Interesting theories Very interesting facts and explanations Definitely thought provoking but also disturbing I had a hard time getting through the entire book Not because I didn t like it or believe itbut because there is a lot of hard truth and a lot to digestthink over This book has definitely started some interesting discussions in our householdmy husband and I are still debating what we think about the nature of evil and what situations might lead us to make an evil choice We had a long discussion this morning about how we perceive those who commit evil actsdo we see them as a person who committed an evil actor do we judge them as an intrinsically evil person Are there levels of evil Are there really evil peopleand can evil people have portions of themselves that are good I think this book is going to be spurring debate in my household for some time to come Healthy debate is a good thing Evil The Science Behind Humanity s Dark Side hits on some rough subjects sadism murder deviance group violence terrorism effects of technologythe internet and others I have respect for Dr Shaw s education and her theories I did my best to understand her points although my educational background is not in psychology But I think at times she goes a step or so too farmaybe tries to make things a bit too clinical I haven t thought over it enough to know if I think that way because she actually does go too far or if her straight forward opinions about our tendencies to be judgmental make me uncomfortable Food for thoughtand discussionAll in all I liked this book because it really made me think I don t necessarily agree with all of Dr Shaw s points but I m at least willing to seriously think it over and try to wrap my mind around it I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Abrams Press via NetGalley All opinions expressed are entirely my own Moody Forever violence or crime Dr Shaw instead looks at the science behind human behavior She points out in her introduction that her book is NOT about philosophy morality religious Очаг на башне views or about punishmentconseuences for aberrant behaviorit s about WHY human beings do the things they do what in the makeup of human beings allows Druids A History violent or evil choices and what behaviors seem to be present in a person to make them capable of evil Dr Shaw breaks down the wide concept of Evil into smaller pieces using science to explain human behavior I read my way through this tome about the nature of evil slowly and thoughtfully I wanted to give my brain time to formulate its opinions on Dr Shaw s theories For me the idea that any human being can be capable of evil in certain situations is chilling and disturbing I m not saying that it isn t trueI m saying that it is a rough revelation We all want to see ourselves as the good separated from those we see as evil murderers rapists criminals pedophiles etc But are we really separate Interesting theories Very interesting facts and explanations Definitely thought provoking but also disturbing I had a hard time getting through the entire book Not because I didn t like it or believe itbut because there is a lot of hard truth and a lot to digestthink over This book has definitely started some interesting discussions in our householdmy husband and I are still debating what we think about the nature of evil and what situations might lead us to make an evil choice We had a long discussion this morning about how we perceive those who commit evil actsdo we see them as a person who committed an evil actor do we judge them as an intrinsically evil person Are there levels of evil Are there really evil peopleand can evil people have portions of themselves that are good I think this book is going to be spurring debate in my household for some time to come Healthy debate is a good thing Evil The Science Behind Humanity s Dark Side hits on some rough subjects sadism murder deviance group The Mechanics' Institute Review: Issue 5 violence terrorism effects of technologythe internet and others I have respect for Dr Shaw s education and her theories I did my best to understand her points although my educational background is not in psychology But I think at times she goes a step or so too farmaybe tries to make things a bit too clinical I haven t thought over it enough to know if I think that way because she actually does go too far or if her straight forward opinions about our tendencies to be judgmental make me uncomfortable Food for thoughtand discussionAll in all I liked this book because it really made me think I don t necessarily agree with all of Dr Shaw s points but I m at least willing to seriously think it over and try to wrap my mind around it I White Nights voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Abrams Press Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash Sammy Keyes via NetGalley All opinions expressed are entirely my own

Julia Shaw Ê 2 Summary

Evil Author Julia Shaw Characters ó 2 M and popular culture and anecdotes from everyday life to break down complex information and concepts like the neuroscience of evil the psychology of bloodlust and workplace misbehavior This is a wide ranging exploration into a fascinating darkly compelling subject. Warning really long rant aheadI don t give many books 1 as I can usually find a thing or two about a book that I enjoyed Ultimately I found Julia Shaw s book so frustrating I m surprised I even finished it First I d like to start by saying that as a fan of true crime sinister stories and exploring the dark side I waited anxiously for this book to hit the shelvesMake no mistake about it Evil is NOT a science backed exploration of humanity s dark side It is rife with the author s personal opinions and eye rolling anecdotes I did not expect to pick up a book full of opinions on the ineffectiveness of our prison system if we should avoid judging murderers because we make mistakes too why we should normalize peadophilia and whether we all have the impulse to harm animals as a mechanism to protect our brain from too much cuteUh whatHere are some uotes from the first 10% that should have been a sign to slam this book shut and walk away Think about the worst thing you have ever done Something that you are probably ashamed of Infidelity Theft Lying Now imagine everyone knew about it Judged you for it For our decisions we see the nuances the circumstances the difficulties For others we often just see the outcome of their decisions This leads us to define human beings in all their complexity by a single heinous term Murderer Rapist So we should not summarize a murderer s character with the label murderer because we make mistakes too Why would someone attempt to use actions such as lyinginfidelitytheft to defend someone who commits murder This is uite the mental jump to make If we didn t label a murderer as a murderer would that help them to not murder again Truly struggling here entire books have been written about Hitler s motivations his personality and his actions People have long wanted to know why and how he became the man we know instead of dissecting the particulars of his actions I want us to focus our attention on just one uestion if you could go back in time would you kill baby Hilter One unexpected situation in which our sadistic tendencies seem to show themselves is in the presence of cute animals Have you ever seen a puppy that was so adorable that you just couldn t handle it Where you felt like you wanted to take your hands and sueeze it s floppy little face really hard Some animals are just so cute that we feel a bit like we want to hurt them I can t First 10% of the book peopleWHERE IS THE SCIENCE Don t put science in the title of your book if your aim is to simply preach your biased opinion and throw shock jock style uestions at your readers I wanted to read a scientific insight into the dark parts of the human condition not Shaw s personal anecdotal speculation of whether evil humans are just misunderstoodAnd yes she mentions some scientific studies both obscure and infamous but she does a poor job tying them to the points she is trying to make Also this is the 8000th book to cite the Stanford Prison Experiment or the Milgram Shock Experiment and Shaw offers nothing new or compelling to the analysis of these studies Not even the Nietzsche uotes in between chapters could save this one for me For the love of Ted Bundy please don t shelve this under Science Summer Reading Challenge 227Stranger than Fiction Read a non fiction book published this year

• Hardcover
• 288
• Evil Author Julia Shaw
• Julia Shaw
• en
• 11 February 2018
• 9781419729492