"The man who faked nearly killing people with electricity" wouldn't have sold as well.

The man who shocked the world, by Thomas Bass was really interesting.
In all fairness I like a lot of biographical non-fiction,
(If you ever get the chance, check out The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai by John Tayman, http://www.amazon.com/Colony-Harrowing-Story-Exiles-Molokai/dp/0743233018/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238167682&sr=8-1). It's really interesting.

Anyway, I liked hearing about this guy's life. His most famous experiment about obedience is important as it is contraversial. People are much more likely to obey authority, even under relatively minor pressure, and this is something that disturbs most people.

More interesting to me though was his work on urban psychology and sociology. Such as his lost letter techniques, and how likely people are to help one another. I suspect that people may be even less helpful now-a-days, especially just passing by. Electronic devices and cell phones allow people to isolate themselves into there own enviroment, despite physically being in public areas.

The lost letter technique as a predictor of public opinion is also an interesting idea, but it is limited to polarizing issues that affect the population at large.

Overall, pretty cool book.