Butler Shaffer wrote an excellent book, Calculated Chaos , on the nature of institutions to continue to grow and to consolidate their strength long after the reasons for their creation have ceased to exist. He has other books worthy of note and writes regularly at Lew Rockwell.com
MIT lecture by Zimbardo (video) (April 2007 - just under 2 hours length) “All evil begins with a big lie,” says Zimbardo, whether it’s a claim to be following the word of God, or the need to stamp out political opposition.
When someone looks out at the world and sees all manner of suffering and injustice, stretching back for thousands of years and continuing today, he invariably blames such problems on someone else's hatred, greed, or stupidity. Rarely will someone consider the possibility that his own belief system is the cause of the pain and suffering he sees around him.
But in most cases, it is.
The root cause of most of society's ills--the main source of man's inhumanity to man--is neither malice nor negligence, but a mere superstition--an unquestioned assumption which has been accepted on faith by nearly everyone, of all ages, races, religions, education and income levels. If people were to recognize that one belief for what it is--an utterly irrational, self-contradictory, and horribly destructive myth--most of the violence, oppression and injustice in the world would cease. But that will happen only when people dare to honestly and objectively re-examine their belief systems.
"The Most Dangerous Superstition" exposes the myth for what it is, showing how nearly everyone, as a result of one particular unquestioned assumption, is directly contributing to violence and oppression without even realizing it. If you imagine yourself to be a compassionate, peace-loving, civilized human being, you must read this book." --Larken Rose
Psychopaths Among Us "I said, 'Here's a scene that you can use,' " Hare says. " 'You're walking down a street and there's an accident. A car has hit a child in the crosswalk. A crowd of people gather round. You walk up, the child's lying on the ground and there's blood running all over the place. You get a little blood on your shoes and you look down and say, "Oh shit." You look over at the child, kind of interested, but you're not repelled or horrified. You're just interested. Then you look at the mother, and you're really fascinated by the mother, who's emoting, crying out, doing all these different things. After a few minutes you turn away and go back to your house. You go into the bathroom and practice mimicking the facial expressions of the mother.' " He then pauses and says, "That's the psychopath: somebody who doesn't understand what's going on emotionally, but understands that something important has happened."
Snakes in Suits "... the unique ways in which psychopaths behave on their paths to greater influence in organizations."
The Sociopath Nextdoor (book at Amazon) "“A remarkable philosophical examination of the phenomenon of sociopathy and its everyday manifestations…" - Kirkus Reviews
The Mask of Sanity (book is no longer available, this is a full, free PDF of the book)
Butler Shaffer
Butler Shaffer wrote an excellent book, Calculated Chaos , on the nature of institutions to continue to grow and to consolidate their strength long after the reasons for their creation have ceased to exist. He has other books worthy of note and writes regularly at Lew Rockwell.comHis latest book, Boundaries of Order - Private Property as a Social System , is also available as a free PDF
Philip Zimbardo
physiotherapy WoodbridgeStanley Milgram
PsyBlog
NLP - Neuro-Linguistic Programing
Howard Zinn - People's History of the United States
Recommended by Marc Stevens, this is an excellent read. History as seen by the rest of us, as opposed to the very few victors.PDF - People's History of the United States
Gerry Spence - How To Argue And Win Every time At Home, At Work, In Court, Everywhere, Everyday - Audiobook
Larken Rose - The Most Dangerous Superstition
But in most cases, it is.
The root cause of most of society's ills--the main source of man's inhumanity to man--is neither malice nor negligence, but a mere superstition--an unquestioned assumption which has been accepted on faith by nearly everyone, of all ages, races, religions, education and income levels. If people were to recognize that one belief for what it is--an utterly irrational, self-contradictory, and horribly destructive myth--most of the violence, oppression and injustice in the world would cease. But that will happen only when people dare to honestly and objectively re-examine their belief systems.
"The Most Dangerous Superstition" exposes the myth for what it is, showing how nearly everyone, as a result of one particular unquestioned assumption, is directly contributing to violence and oppression without even realizing it. If you imagine yourself to be a compassionate, peace-loving, civilized human being, you must read this book." --Larken Rose
"Government" is a religion (article)
Psychopathy/Sociopathy/Antisocial Personality Disorder"