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littlelisa006's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.0
not what I was expecting. more of an explanation and examples of narcissism and not how to live in a world with them.
prairie_meg's review against another edition
1.0
According to the author anyone who is successful or anyone who is in a position of power must be a narcissist. Makes a lot of assumptions. Too many anecdotes to count.
Barely finished. It was a struggle.
Do not recommend. There are many better books on narcissism out there. In fact any other book on narcissism would be better…
Barely finished. It was a struggle.
Do not recommend. There are many better books on narcissism out there. In fact any other book on narcissism would be better…
sarahhyatt's review against another edition
If you want to understand narcissism, this is a terrible book. I would venture so far as to say this may be a dangerous book. This is the book equivalent of an essay written by a student during an all nighter at the end of finals week.
In the interest of full disclosure, I read one chapter and had to put it down. I skimmed the others. I am also not qualified to diagnose anyone - though Kluger does, repeatedly, and he relies on celebrities. He settles for the shallow, often wrong, assumption that narcissism = self-centeredness. He indulges this definition with examples like Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and people who take selfies for the internet. It's a tired trope and a very inaccurate one. Anyone who has done minimal reading on NPD, and/or anyone who has known a narcissist, likely knows how poor of a description this is. And for those who embrace it, this book provides little insight into who in their lives may be a narcissist.
Narcissistic personality disorder is exactly that - a mental disorder, not simply someone who is arrogant or in the spotlight. That is the equivalent of someone claiming they are "so OCD!" because they keep a clean house. They are not the same. There may be overlap, but an individual who prefers a clean house, even very adamantly, does not necessarily have a full blown DISORDER anymore than an attention-seeking celebrity. Narcissism as a disorder has more in common with antisocial personality disorder than it does with arrogance (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/inside-the-criminal-mind/201107/narcissistic-personality-disorder-and-the-antisocial). An arrogant person may be annoying and off-putting; a narcissist will charm, manipulate, lie, abuse and often destroy others.
This book honestly does a disservice to those who suspect that someone in their lives may be a narcissist. Readers would do better to pick up Gavin de Becker's "Gift of Fear" and focus on trusting their own intuition rather than pointing fingers at Miley Cyrus' latest bad decisions.
In the interest of full disclosure, I read one chapter and had to put it down. I skimmed the others. I am also not qualified to diagnose anyone - though Kluger does, repeatedly, and he relies on celebrities. He settles for the shallow, often wrong, assumption that narcissism = self-centeredness. He indulges this definition with examples like Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and people who take selfies for the internet. It's a tired trope and a very inaccurate one. Anyone who has done minimal reading on NPD, and/or anyone who has known a narcissist, likely knows how poor of a description this is. And for those who embrace it, this book provides little insight into who in their lives may be a narcissist.
Narcissistic personality disorder is exactly that - a mental disorder, not simply someone who is arrogant or in the spotlight. That is the equivalent of someone claiming they are "so OCD!" because they keep a clean house. They are not the same. There may be overlap, but an individual who prefers a clean house, even very adamantly, does not necessarily have a full blown DISORDER anymore than an attention-seeking celebrity. Narcissism as a disorder has more in common with antisocial personality disorder than it does with arrogance (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/inside-the-criminal-mind/201107/narcissistic-personality-disorder-and-the-antisocial). An arrogant person may be annoying and off-putting; a narcissist will charm, manipulate, lie, abuse and often destroy others.
This book honestly does a disservice to those who suspect that someone in their lives may be a narcissist. Readers would do better to pick up Gavin de Becker's "Gift of Fear" and focus on trusting their own intuition rather than pointing fingers at Miley Cyrus' latest bad decisions.
nikole817's review against another edition
4.0
A very interesting read for those who enjoy psychology and it’s role in historical figures and our everyday lives. The NPI test at the end was interesting to complete.
sephlav's review against another edition
3.0
This book is…weird. Some of it is really good and makes valid points but some of it is just so, so bad and riddled with reaches.
sandylovesbooks's review against another edition
2.0
Some interesting facts in this book but it really wasn't a great read. I did skip chapters that seemed to go on into nothing. I didn't find out a lot about narcissists.
I did write down some notes while reading this book:
page 11 - "We have become artists of the selfie...." No, don't include me in that "we". I think I've done only 2 selfies and that was because they were for work. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have to.
page 12 - 70,000 titles of "self-esteem", 3,700 aimed at kids, and 300 of those are aimed at birth-to-age-two group. Babies don't need books about narcissists. And that was at the time of publication, who knows how many there are now?!
*eyes rolling all the way to the back of my head*
I did write down some notes while reading this book:
page 11 - "We have become artists of the selfie...." No, don't include me in that "we". I think I've done only 2 selfies and that was because they were for work. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have to.
page 12 - 70,000 titles of "self-esteem", 3,700 aimed at kids, and 300 of those are aimed at birth-to-age-two group. Babies don't need books about narcissists. And that was at the time of publication, who knows how many there are now?!
*eyes rolling all the way to the back of my head*
kmg365's review against another edition
4.0
This book was an excellent palate cleanser after a string of less-than-riveting novels on my reading list.
He hooked me right away by starting with The Donald, and kept up my interest by summarizing scientific studies and sprinkling in real-world examples.
This is definitely pop psychology, not an academic work, and I appreciated the light, breezy tone and the use of humor.
He hooked me right away by starting with The Donald, and kept up my interest by summarizing scientific studies and sprinkling in real-world examples.
This is definitely pop psychology, not an academic work, and I appreciated the light, breezy tone and the use of humor.
shiradest's review against another edition
3.0
This was an invaluable book to read and provided important insights into several situations I've had to deal with. Understanding that there are actually at least two main types of npd put certain persons into perspective for me which had been a quandry in terms of how to view and deal with these people. Very useful book, sadly.