Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness (Kodansha Globe)
|
 |
|
Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness (Kodansha Globe)
by Authors:
David Joseph Weeks , Jamie James , Philip Turner
Released: October, 1996
ISBN: 1568361564
Paperback
Sales Rank: 110,121
|
List price:
$15.00
Our price:
$10.50
(You save: $4.5)
|
|
|
|
|
Book > Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness (Kodansha Globe) > Customer Reviews:
|
|
|
|
|
Average Customer Rating: 
Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness (Kodansha Globe) >
Customer Review #1:
 More of a anecdote collection
Not a whole lot to come away with from this book. No really shocking findings or anything you wouldnt expect. However, its a good collection of microstories and anecdotes about really weird people, which was entertaining at least.
Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness (Kodansha Globe) >
Customer Review #2:
 Entertaining and informative look at odd-balls
Any book that describes Day Crockett as "the strangest man I ever saw. He had the face of a woman, and his manner was that of a girl" is going to capture my attention. That description appears in "Eccentrics" followed by the qualification that, as the Alamo fell, Crockett "looked grand and terrible, shouting at the front door and fighting a whole column of Mexican infantry."The authors, who may be a bit eccentric themselves, first define eccentricity, then supply multiple examples arranged in such categories as: The Scientists, Eccentric Childhood, and Sexual Eccentricity (the latter being not quite as titillating as it sounds). They also examine the borderline between eccentricity and mental illness (a fine one) as well as some peculiarities, such as arrested speech development, relating it to eccentricity.
An interesting read, the only latent problem in the book is that, after reading it, you may find yourself looking at some of your acquaintances with different eyes (not to mention yourself.) On the other hand, you might use it as a springboard to finding and developing the eccentric parts of your own character.
Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness (Kodansha Globe) >
Customer Review #3:
 Where else would you find a woman with 7,5oo Lawn Gnomes¿¿¿
At last I can begin to understand my weirdness. Now I know that there is a word to describe my pyschological condition: eccentric. But the authors go at lengths to point out that this is much different from a mental illness. In fact, eccentrics are healthier than normal and show less schizophrenic signs. I would go as far as saying that we are extra sane. (Though my personal theory of pyschology is that *everyone is insane) Its not negative at all, in fact (pp.19) "Human evolution needs human eccentricity." Eccentrics, besides being nonconforming, are also commonly scientists or artists--and either or neither are very creative. The researchers let us know that true eccentrics are never acting. They are strong individuals with strange inclinations of their own, which they are not afraid to express. With the study of eccentricity we may finally gain a better understanding of all the revolutionary figures in all walks of history from Jesus Christ to Albert Einstein. However, "for all practical purposes, as far as modern medicine is concerned eccentricity does not exist." Dr. David Weeks and Jamie James have take the first scientific approach to the mutations of social evolution. {i.e., eccentrics} Accordingly I give them a full rating of five stars and recommend this book to every human being.
|
|
Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness (Kodansha Globe) >
Related Products
The Mammoth Book of Oddballs and Eccentrics
|
A Giacometti Portrait
|
The Selected Poems of TAo ChIen
|
Banquet Years
|
Dreams of Terror and Death : The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft
|
Self-Reliance and Other Essays
|
Strange Brains and Genius : The Secret Lives Of Eccentric Scientists And Madmen
|
CLASS : A GUIDE THROUGH THE AMERICAN STATUS SYSTEM
|
The Theory of the Leisure Class
|
A Room of Ones Own
|
|
|
|
|