About book Dziwny Przypadek Rockefellera. Zdumiewająca Kariera I Spektakularny Upadek Seryjnego Oszusta (2012)
A pathological liar with a little luck and a lot of social influence can accomplish almost anything in this world. People believe what they want to believe. And perversely, thanks to the bystander effect, it's easier to con an entire city than just one person.What kept this book pretty good, and not great, is the lack of insight into the main character's psychological motivation and just how he managed to pull everything off. I know, we'll never know what made him tick, and much of the "how" is the simple ability to influence people. But how, for example, did he acquire a collection of ultra-rare painting forgeries so good that they fooled professional art dealers? Rockefeller's art collection is the sole piece of physical evidence that gave credence to his false persona. Yet it's never explained how he got the paintings. And without that threshold understanding, we're left with little more insight into the whole affair than all the people who bought his false identities. Meet the man who is a disturbing combination of Jim Jones and Frank Abignale, Jr., with a little bit of a lot of other people thrown in. I'd never heard of this man before picking up the book (probably because when he was arrested in 2008 I was busy graduating from college and had other things on my mind) but it amazes me that I didn't, because his level of deception was nothing short of remarkable. Taken at face value (pun intended, given the nature of the subject matter), assuming that the author put all the facts out there as concretely and in an un-biased manner as possible, the whirlwind of chaos left behind by someone who is mostly likely at best a con man and at worst a despicable murderer is simply astounding. It's hard to believe that he took in as many people as he did for as long as he did.That brings up the most fascinating aspect of the book, though; the study of human nature and what we are drawn to. We have such a fascination with the rich and powerful, and "Rockefeller" preyed on a few individuals desirous and gullible enough to believe him, giving credence to his story when others who had more doubts started to question. We love to feel connected to someone rich or famous and the idea of suggesting that he wasn't who he said he was simply just didn't compute. It's frightening how much one person can get away with when we simply let them do it.Again, the bias of the author has to be taken into account, and the number of "anonymous sources" certainly does plenty to make me raise my eyebrows as far as some of the "insider information" portrayed, but the facts of the matter stand when researched. The fact is, "Rockefeller" was--and is--a creepy, despicable person who managed to fake it till he made it...and then fell, and hard.4/5
Do You like book Dziwny Przypadek Rockefellera. Zdumiewająca Kariera I Spektakularny Upadek Seryjnego Oszusta (2012)?
Wow - hard to believe this guy really fooled all those people for that long!
—akimunchik
Very engaging hard to believe this was true, not fiction
—lulu
