English teacher Brandon Kendall read the book “Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty” by Roy Baumeister.

“[Baumeister] says it’s really hard to narrow and pinpoint what we mean by evil because it’s very fluid, but it’s a really interesting and dark book,” Kendall said. “He gives a lot of morbid examples, but it’s extremely interesting.”

“Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty” explores how to recognize and understand what evil really is. 

“Evil is in the eye of the beholder in the sense that someone we would consider evil and bad might be doing genuinely good and godly works in their opinion,” Kendall said.

Baumeister is a psychologist who writes many books on the human mind and ideas. Along with “Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty,” Baumeister has also written “The Cultural Animal: Human Nature, Meaning, and Social Life,” “The Power of Bad,” and “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.”

“It’s a dark book and [Baumeister] gives morbid examples to illustrate points, but I think people can handle it,” Kendall said.

Kendall recommends “Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty” to anyone in high school and above who likes to read nonfiction and psychology books.