Ryan's review
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
by Philip G. Zimbardo
Ryan's review
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip G. Zimbardo
Ryan's review
rating:
bookshelves:
non-fiction,
politics
My rating averages out to 3 stars, but just barely. Most of this book fits into the 2-star category with just enough of it being 4-star material to bump it up a bit. The primary reason for my struggle with this book is its ridiculous length. It covers a variety of topics and political events that are just too much to fit into a single text. The level of detail for both the Stanford Prison Experiment and Zimbardo’s involvement in the Abu Ghraib is extreme. The two chapters that address conformity, obedience, deindividuation, dehumanization, etc., on the other hand, are incredibly useful and interesting. I would recommend this entire book to individuals looking for a detailed psychological explanation of the prison abuses in Iraq and how it relates to the Stanford Prison experiment, but for everyone else out there, I would recommend sticking to chapters 12 and 13 and just skimming the rest.
