Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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~]

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

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.

This book was great. It was lively, entertaining, spoke of past and present eccentrics and as somebody who cottons to the term "eccentric," this book delivered most of what I hoped it would.

The few objections I had to the book were the random clinical records tossed about in an attempt to distinguish if the persons in question were truly "eccentric" or "mentally ill." Here, I believe the author made a crucial mistake in that he blurred the line between eccentricity and mental illness, thus leaving the reader to wonder -"what's the difference?" or "Does eccentricity really exist?" This was mostly due, in part, to the clinical studie's failing to report significant differences between what groups the author deemed as "eccentric" vs. those who were "mentally ill."

All in all, though, I enjoyed this book and learned some things about some interesting people and that's why I purchased the book in the first place.

I absolutely loved this book. Then again I met the qualifications of being an eccentric on 13 out of 15 requirements.

This book is based on the first psychological study of the eccentric personality type. I have a degree in psychology and was glad that this book didn't go in too deeply with scientific terms (that is what journal articles are for). Instead it is written for the general public. The reviews of historical eccentrics is very interesting as are the interviews with living eccentrics.

Yes, he started out with an hypothesis that eccentrics are generally happier than the average person and yes his research confirmed it, but that is why its call research. Some of his hypotheses are disproved. He never claims, as one reviewer suggested, that strange unhapy people are neurotic. He just states that in this study many more of the participants were happy than were sad.

If you want to read and learn about something different pick up this book.

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.

Separating the eccentric from the neurotic couldn't have been easy from the standpoint of professional credibility, but this book discusses some interesting conclusions regarding our eccentric fellows -- happier, better health, etc. I found the book to be a fast, informative read and my only problem with it was the sometimes outlandish examples of eccentricity culled from hundreds of years ago, which didn't seem to strengthen or weaken the study's conclusions. Here'a book that should reinforce your own sense of individuality in the face of steadily-increasing pressures to conform.

This book is most amusing when describing eccentric characters, though many have been covered in previous books. The "scientific study" is sandwiched in between the stories. The authors admit the study is very preliminary.

Not a whole lot to come away with from this book. No really shocking findings or anything you wouldn't expect. However, it's a good collection of microstories and anecdotes about really weird people, which was entertaining at least.

Fascinating survey of English and American eccentrics throughout the ages. The authors interviewed subjects and came up with a handful of traits common to most people considered eccentric. They also learn that it can't be chalked up either to nature or nuture. (Sometimes even the most chance remark can help propel a child onto that path.)

While obviously trying not to romanticize their subjects, the authors did conclude that the eccentrics were some of the happiest people they had met. If this is true, perhaps we should try a little less hard to be ordinary or "normal."