Taming Toxic People

4.5 stars

Taming Toxic People is a book by former corporate lawyer, technology adviser and best-selling Australian author, David Gillespie. Subtitled "The science of identifying & dealing with psychopaths at work & at home", this book delivers exactly what it promises. When David Gillespie talks about psychopaths, he's not (usually) talking about the people that might kill us ("us" being the ones with empathy); rather, he's referring to the people that can, so easily, make our work, our home, our neighbourhood, in short, our lives, a misery.

It may surprise readers when Gillespie notes that Mother Teresa has been described as a psychopath, although this is certainly borne out by Colette Livermore's revealing memoir of her time with the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, Hope Endures. But few will be surprised that Donald Trump, Caligula, Lance Armstrong, Saddam Hussein, Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin and Henry VIII also come under this banner.

Gillespie lists the key characteristics of the psychopath and describes their primary behaviours, with examples. From these, readers will easily recognise those people in their lives that are psychopaths. And if they don't, if they've never met a psychopath, they can a) count themselves very lucky and b) know how to survive it when they do.

Gillespie includes handy checklists to help: identify psychopaths; survive the psychopath at work and at home; what to record; leave a psychopath; manage a psychopathic parent or child; and survive the psychopathic neighbour. The depth of Gillespie's research is apparent from the extensive notes for each chapter, but this wealth of information is presented in easily digestible form. Essential reading for any human being.