Recently the Washington Post reviewed a new book Dangerous Instincts, by Monica Hesse writing about Mary Ellen O’Toole. (View Article Here) For 30 years O’Toole worked for the FBI.  She interviewed the Unibomber, worked on abduction cases and investigated torturers, serial killers and serious crazies of all types, including the Green River Killer, who disposed of 49 women in Washington State during the 1980s and ‘90s.  She says the most dangerous criminals often came across as harmless, and that people should not trust their intuition about these psychopaths:  Interviewing neighbors, she finds statements like:    “He was low-key. He was nice. He didn’t swear. He was a churchgoer.”  Or,  “I just looked at him, and I could tell he was a good guy.”    Don’t trust your intuition, O”Toole concludes. It may be seriously flawed.

Since my book, The Art of Intuition: Cultivating Your Inner Wisdom, Tarcher, 2011), takes the opposite position — ALWAYS Trust your intuition– I feel obliged to argue.

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