Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness (Kodansha Globe) [Paperback]

David Weeks (Author), Jamie James (Author)

Book Description

Series: Kodansha Globe | Publication Date: October 15, 1996

A SCIENTIST LOOKS AT ECCENTRICS-AND THE ODDITIES THAT KEEP THEM SANE

After years of research, a practicing psychotherapist has proof that eccentrics are usually healthier than the rest of us-as well as more creative, more idealistic, more opinionated, and much more fun to read about. Dr. David Weeks fills his hook with fascinating case studies, including Joshua Abraham Norton, who once proclaimed himself Emperor of America and even convinced many people to consider themselves his subjects: Dr. Patch Adams, founder of the Gesundheit Institute and a physician who believes that humor fosters healing and dresses as a clown to treat his patients; and Florence Foster Jenkins, a would-be diva whose love of music was exceeded only by her lack of talent, but whose wealth enabled her to stage a recital at Carnegie Hall, Entertaining, funny, and thought provoking, Eccentrics introduces a series of extraordinary men and women-and encourages us to enjoy our own healthy eccentricities as well.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This book summarizes findings from the first systematic study of "eccentrics": highly talented and unusual people who are somewhere between "normal" and "nuts". This is a domain occupied by genuine geniuses and charming crackpots whose common feature is that they refuse to hold commonly held beliefs or refuse to act in accordance with the norms of society. Although the book would have been a more compelling read if it treated each individual in more depth, and its conclusions more convincing if there were more tables of data, it is nonetheless a delightful book that will give you either more respect for the eccentric (if you believe that you are "normal") or greater confidence in yourself (if you suspect--or know--that you are eccentric). Recommended. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In this entertaining, if insubstantial, book, Weeks, a neuropsychologist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, and freelance writer James set out to examine the lives of those who, while not mentally ill, nevertheless veer significantly from conventional behavior. Weeks discusses the well-known eccentricities of figures such as the poet William Blake and pianist Glenn Gould, as well as eccentrics who, though famous or notorious in their own time, are largely forgotten in ours, such as Ignatius T.T. Donnelly, whose 19th-century book arguing that the Lost Continent of Atlantis was the source of all civilization was a bestseller. Weeks also presents a wide range of contemporary eccentrics, who seem to relish the opportunity to talk about themselves. While the book's anecdotes are charming, Weeks tends to generalize, and his attempt to present an argument that eccentrics are fundamentally happier and healthier than "normal" people is too weakly supported to be convincing.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha USA (October 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568361564
• ISBN-13: 978-1568361567
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Their Own Drummers, May 9, 2006

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

As someone who could be politely described as marching to my own drummer, or more brutally as a social cripple, I was drawn to this book about eccentrics. Them's my people. According to David Weeks, eccentrics have never been studied scientifically before the research described here, because psychiatrists only ever study people with real illnesses or pathologies. Eccentrics also usually don't see themselves as being in need of help or as being eligible for study, so therefore they are mostly unknown to science. Another challenge is that the very term "eccentric" has been used inconsistently in different locations and time periods, with the oddballs being treated in every fashion from supportive reverence to outright persecution. Weeks thus embarked on a systematic study of people who called themselves eccentric, or folks who were deemed eccentric by the newly-derived criteria of the study.

However, this is not a very scientific book and the results of the study turn out to be conjectural conclusions and rhetorical questions. We do learn that eccentrics are healthier, both mentally and physically, than the general population; while Weeks provides some pretty good philosophical arguments on how those who flout social conventions have always kept society from getting moribund and inflexible, especially in the arts and sciences. But even though this is all good food for thought, this book (and probably Weeks' study in itself) doesn't reach any real conclusions about what makes eccentrics eccentric. Instead we mostly learn about what makes them just a little different, in healthy and not pathological ways. The book is generally fun to read, thanks to the many anecdotes about real eccentrics and their intriguing peculiarities (my personal favorite is the guy who gained a unique outlook on life by walking around backwards all the time), but even these enjoyable stories take on the aspect of a disconnected list, which further detracts from the scientific goals that Weeks announced at the beginning of the book. [~doomsdayer520~]

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but shallow, March 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

Are you eccentric? Do you know someone who is? What is it about truly strange behavior that is so fascinating? This book answers none of these questions. It's a synopsis of a Scottish historical and psychological study of English-speaking eccentrics on both sides of the Atlantic. Several psychological tests were administered to the subjects -- who were self-selected -- and statistical tables are included. And the authors' conclusions -- namely, that eccentrics are not insane and tend to be happier than most of us -- are interesting.

What makes the book good, though, are the illustrative anecdotes. The authors include stories of living and dead eccentrics, attempting to classify types of eccentricity. Unfortunately, there are no full-scale profiles of these interesting people; we leave the book with little idea of how eccentrics conduct themselves outside their area of eccentricity. The reader is left unsatisfied, having devoured plates full of appetizers and not a real meal among them

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where else would you find a woman with 7,5oo Lawn Gnomes¿¿¿, May 7, 2001

By 

Joel Brown (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

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') It's 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.