Assholes: A Theory by Aaron James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First and foremost, this book is quite like Frankfurt's "On Bullshit" since 1) it's couched in academic (albeit friendly) language and 2) there's a lot to chew on - this is not a humorist book for a plane ride.It can be really funny, but the author's serious in his rigor on the subject.

It does provide several approaches for dealing with assholes, after qualifying between "asshole" and several other unpopular personality types/traits (humor applied here helps!) but the hard-boiled asshole isn't likely to change from them - though there's hope for the lesser-asshole-ish people you may encounter.

This is a great book for self-appraising our views of others, as well. Looking at so many strong character types gives us room to compare, contrast - and hopefully see that we can be less pretty than we'd like to be at times.

I found the afterward - "letter to an asshole" - to be a great summation; lengthy due to its completeness covering all of the areas discussed but well worth the read.

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