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Poisonous People
Psychopathy, Narcissism, Manipulation, Sadism: How to Resist Them and Improve Your Life
Table of Contents
About The Book
This book is about the poisonous people who walk among us. The romantic partner who twists every conversation, the office bully who keeps being promoted, or the reckless relative who never takes responsibility for their actions.
Award-winning researcher Leanne ten Brinke has studied dark personalities for decades, examining their behaviour in settings as varied as prisons, schools and financial boardrooms, even in the United States Senate.
Dr ten Brinke uses a mixture of new science and storytelling to:
- help you identify dark personalities
- understand how they cause so much harm
- take evasive action before you become their target
- prevent bad behaviour
- decide if you should leave
- get out of toxic situations unscathed
The latest research shows that a relatively small number of people are bringing the rest of us down. This insightful, humane, optimistic and empowering book gives you powerful, evidence-based tools to neutralise their poison and improve your life.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (March 10, 2026)
- Length: 368 pages
- ISBN13: 9781398535626
Raves and Reviews
Chosen as one of the best new popular science books of 2026 by New Scientist
‘We are going to need all the help offered by a compelling new book . . . dispense[s] plenty of useful advice on how to protect ourselves from the “poisonous people” in our midst . . . illuminating’
– New Scientist
‘Rather than depress us, [ten Brinke] wants to empower the reader by informing them about how to recognise “dark” personalities, deny them powerful corporate positions, leave or repair a relationship and even recognise such qualities in themselves. For all its concentration on “dark” types, they are a minority, and this is a positive manual for spotting them and dealing with them’
– Sydney Morning Herald
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