The Psychopath Code
by Pieter Hintjens · first published 2015
68% recommend27% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Practical guide to recognizing psychopaths and the social predators around them, and to containing those relationships. Suits readers who think they've never met one, or who need to protect a community.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…a psychopath; not everyone who harms others is a psychopath. Psychopathy is a specific type of a disorder, not an umbrella term for "everything I dislike". The best book I found on this topic is "The Psychopath Code" by Pieter Hintjens. In real life, I met 2 people I would bet are psychopaths, in the clinical meaning of the word. I won't try to provide a short description, because short descriptions are not good…
on “Life as a Nonviolent Psychopath (2014)” ↗…Schneier (very good, preaching to the choir in my case though) Dune - Frank Herbert (been waiting more than 20 years to read this. If you haven't seen the movie from 2001 highly recommended, else not) The Psychopath Code - Pieter Hintjens (psychology book, highly recommended, allowed me to understand a whole lot more of the "toxicity" in society) Python for Informatics - Charles Severance (too easy for crowd here, and…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗Haven't read this specifically, but agree with the concept. Also recommend The Psychopath Code by Pieter Hintjens (the ZMQ guy). Most books are ultimately quite abstract. A few are useful when the shit really hits the fan.
on “Ask HN: Books you wish you had read earlier?” ↗Getting enough people in a group to read the late Pieter Hintjens' 'Psychopath Code'[0] helps cerate awareness and builds heard immunity. [0]https://legacy.gitbook.com/book/hintjens/psychopathcode/deta...
on “Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution (2015)” ↗…or a lot of this, too, unless one is able to intentionally look at the diagnosed as a human being, especially in difficult situations. The mention of Oracle makes me think that Pieter Hintjens’ book, Psychopath Code, may be of interest for you — it looks into the mental health of organizations. https://legacy.gitbook.com/@hintjens
on “The Surprising Power of Virtue Labeling” ↗…you like. Play video games that you like, especially ones with good sound, and cooperative ones with friends. Beware of sociopaths. They are few and far between, but can also work at FAANGs. Read The Psychopath Code by Pieter Hintjens. Spend time in a park or a forest walking and listening to the sounds that trees and birds and other things make. Seek out nature. Try exercising at least once every other day. Search…
on “Ask HN: Are you as passionate as you used to be?” ↗…thinking about alternative form of government too, however we should not forget the famous quote that democracy is the worst form of government. Pieter Hintjens the ZeroMQ founder wrote the book "The Psychopath Code". I learnt that some bad people are enough to make a community capsize. I am not sure whether this applies to democracies as well. It is a completely different scale from Open Source projects. However…
on “Brexit Could Be Reversed - Here's How” ↗…they don't respect them, so you will have to adopt devious tactics. Running away is a cowardly act. Learn how to spot them and their co-dependent friends. I would highly recommend the book Cracking the Psychopath Code and works by Sam Vaknin. 1. Hack their computer! This way you can leverage their insecurities and exploit them. They probably have troubles at home. Just borrow their phone and install spy tools, best…
on “How to Pay Programmers Less (2016)” ↗(I can not edit any longer my parent comment, so I reply) I also started reading "The Psychopath Code". It got over my expectations, so far. It may be one of the books I'll recomend to my children when the time comes. Till then, I guess it'll just make me a beter psychopath. I haven't considered to be…
on “Pieter Hintjens (zeromq) diagnosed with incurable cancer” ↗Not a direct answer to your question but Pieter Hintjens' Psychopath Code addresses this exact topic and offers ways to identify and contain such relationships. http://hintjens.com/blog:_psychopaths
on “Ask HN: Ever met a psychopathic CEO?” ↗Article is a book plug. I recommend The Psychopath Code by the late Pieter Hintjens [1]. It is frighteningly analytical & accurate with many analogies, examples and references to work with. Bonus points for using security terminology (he refers to the psychopath as Mallory). The book is freely available as PDF, and a physical copy can be bought as well. Changes can be suggested at gitbook [2], th
on “How to spot a psychopath” ↗A couple of years there was a discussion about the death of Pieter Hintjens [1][2], a semi-famous computer scientist who had just passed away. I had heard of him before his death, but didn't know very much about him. I decided to take a look at his web site, and noticed that he had written a book about psychopaths called "The Psychopath Code" [3]. (The PDF download is free.) At that exact mome
on “The Mysterious Heir of Extreme Travel” ↗I can recommend Pieter Hintjens' "Psychopath Code" if you want to learn more on how human/social predators operate: http://hintjens.com/blog:_psychopaths Edit: I neither know the accused nor the writer of that piece, I just wanted to share that there's lots of layers to reality and that this book was eye-opening to me in that regard.
on ““But he does good work.”” ↗I have the utmost respect for Pieter, wherever I encounter his work it always shows passion and quality. Recently I read The Psychopath Code which I highly recommend especially to those who think they've never encountered one. While you can still read this: thank you. You have improved my life in multiple ways.
on “Fighting Cancer” ↗The Psychopath Code [1], by Peter Hintjens. You can download a free legal copy. Psychopaths and sociopaths are out there: they're about five to ten percent of the population. Once you've had your life intertwined with one, you'll never see the world the same. Know how to identify them and deal with them. I learned about Peter Hintjens and his book when his death was reported here on Hacker Ne
on “Ask HN: Which books do you wish you'd read earlier in life?” ↗