Our modern Age of Anxiety threatens to overwhelm us all with angst, ambivalence, and dread. Most of us manage to cope, but not without displaying some pretty bizarre behavior. Enter Encyclopedia Neurotica, an irreverent A to Z guide to the tics, twitches, and safety-valve nuttiness of modern life.
Learn about such fascinating foibles as retail therapy, “shopping as a means of comfort, relaxation, or mood elevation,” or cell yell, “loud talking on cell phones in public places by people with a neurotic need to invade their own privacy.” Find out whether you suffer from cyberchondria, “hypochondria resulting from seeing one’s symptoms on a medical Web site,” or pronoia, “the irrational belief that people like you.”
From a master of witty compilations, this wry catalog of mishegoss, containing hundreds of illustrative quotations from the famous and the wise, may convince you to lie back and enjoy your neuroses. Or congratulate yourself on not being quite as neurotic as the next guy.
Review
"Have you ever searched for a definition for acquired situational narcissism? Wondered why being human is so tough? Felt a need to understand the appeal of television neurotics like Larry David or Tony Soprano? How about a new list of previously unknown phobias? If you are sometimes neurotic, need to understand someone neurotic, or just need a laugh, this is the encyclopedia for you. The prolific Winokur (The Portable Curmudgeon) has collected an array of neuroticisms for our reading enjoyment. Entries vary in length from a word or two (the definition of self-destructive) to eight pages (famed neurotic Howard Hughes). Bottom Line: Usually humorous, sometimes wry, occasionally straightforward and a little scary, this amusing work is recommended for leisure reading collections in all public libraries."-Library Journal
Author Biography
Jon Winokur is the author of various reference books and anthologies, including The Portable Curmudgeon and The Rich Are Different. He lives in Pacific Palisades, California, with his neuroses.
