Encyclopedia Neurotica (Paperback, 1st St. Martin's Griffin ed)

This is an irreverent A-Z guide to the tics, twitches and safety-valve nuttiness of modern life. Acquired Situational Narcissism or Psychological Phlegm? Readers will be able to discern their every psychological quirk in this enthralling guide to the maladies of the modern age. The modern age of anxiety threatens to overwhelm all right-thinking people with a monster dose of angst, ambivalence and dread. Fortunately, most manage to cope, but not without displaying some pretty spectacular compensatory behaviour. Even more fortunately, they can now recognise and name all of their symptoms, courtesy of Jon Winokur's fantastic "Encyclopedia Neurotica", a guide to absolutely everything wrong with the behavioural patterns of the modern world. Whether suffering from cyberchondria ("hypochondria resulting from seeing one's symptoms on a medical website") or pronoia ("the irrational belief that people like you"), readers will find Winokur's wry catalogue enthralling, entertaining and educational. Arranged as a conventional A-Z, with informative insert panels and including hundreds of illustrative quotations from the famous, the wise and the certifiably bonkers, "Encyclopedia Neurotica" is the one title no latter-day loon can afford to be without.