This book is just priceless. It gives an extremely insightful, very comprehensive view of a world wide phenomena of which most of us are dangerously unaware of. And with dangerously I'm referring to the fact that by naively assuming that at the very core we all tend to be more or less the same, we are leaving ourselves completely exposed an unprotected to the attacks, often vicious, of highly disturbed, sometimes conscience lacking individuals.
I have gone through such attacks for a great number of years, since childhood. Obviously as a child you have no other frame of reference beyond your limited direct experience, and if someone repeatedly attacks you, you simply re frame that in a way that you can understand by assuming that everyone is alike. Wrong, not everyone is alike.
I have done quite a bit of reading on the subject of these highly disturbed individuals that, make no mistake, are responsible for an enormous amount of disruption on a world wide scale. George Simon's book really brought it home for me, though. It completely explained a behavior that I have witnessed and experienced and, adding to that, a behavior that would be, otherwise, inexplicable.
One of the best, if not the best, self defense weapons is to know exactly with what and whom you are dealing with, and having the knowledge of character disturbances and even its extreme form: psychopathy (sociopathy for some), is absolutely fundamental. Simon's expertise on the subject is a much welcomed gift.