The award-winning author of The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher and The Haunting of Alma Fielding presents a fascinating and hugely entertaining history of our fears and obsessions from the Middle Ages to the modern day.
Ever been struck dumb when public speaking? You might be suffering from glossophobia. Do your book-buying habits verge on bibliomania? Do you recoil in arachnophobic horror at the sight of a spider - or twitch with nomophobia when you misplace your mobile phone?
Our fears and compulsions often feel like part of our deepest selves - yet they're bound up in the currents of the world around us. This thrilling compendium of 99 phobias and manias, rare and familiar, delves into the obsessions that have shaped us all. The award-winning author Kate Summerscale takes us from the middle ages to the present day, using rich and riveting case studies to trace the links between the private and the public, the personal and the political.
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
ISBN: 9781788162814
Number of pages: 256
Weight: 400 g
Dimensions: 216 x 138 x 22 mm
Edition: Main
A WATERSTONES BEST POPULAR SCIENCE BOOK 2022 - .
This fascinating compendium traces phobias and manias through their rich social, cultural and medical history - Hannah Beckerman, Observer
A new book from Summerscale is always a treat. She does vast amounts of research, and then manages to let go of it, and take flight in prose that is both forensic and conversational ... Her sub-title - 'A History of the World in 99 Obsessions' - might echo Neil MacGregor, but this reads more like a book by Oliver Sacks, with dashes of Roald Dahl - Maggie Fergusson, Spectator
Fascinating ... Summerscale uses the same talent for elaborating on psychological tics that made her non-fiction thriller The Suspicions Of Mr. Whicher a top bestseller - Simeon House, Mail on Sunday
This is an endlessly intriguing book, full of extraordinary stories and even the odd cure ... All the bibliomanes (book nutters) I know will love it - Daily Mail
[An] entertaining compendium ... its tales are judiciously chosen, its factoids toothsome - The Times
Endlessly fascinating. It's a tantalising glimpse into the labyrinth of the human unconscious - The Tablet
We are all, in some way or other, plagued by fears and desires beyond our control ... Fascinating, beautifully written and thoroughly researched - Irish Times
Thought-provoking and such fun - Ian Mortimer, bestselling author of The Time Traveller's Guides
A fascinating book - David Crystal
Fascinating ... Phobias and manias create a magical space between us and the world - Malcolm Gaskill, author of the No. 1 bestseller The Ruin of All Witches
An intriguing guide to human fixations - Guardian
Fascinating... Exquisitely detailed and consistently insightful, this is an entertaining guide to humanity's compulsions - Publishers Weekly
99 hard-to-stop-reading histories ... from the familiar (homophobia) to surprising fears of eggs, hair, silence and everything (pantophobia) - Chicago Tribune
Informative, witty, and unique ... Summerscale, author of The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher and other well-regarded books, lists 99 fears and compulsions, and the result is a peculiarly engaging book - Kirkus
Magnificent - Marcus Berkmann
Great read funny informative and there were so many I never knew about.
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