The Madness of Prince Hamlet and Other Extraordinary States of Mind [Paperback]

Robert M. Youngson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1999

Among this stimulating book's questions and surprising answers, The Madness of Prince Hamlet asks, Was the Prince of Denmark suffering from Ganser Syndrome (also known as the syndrome of the almost correct answer)? Whether analyzing the tics of Tourettes's Syndrome, male phantom pregnancy, or "demonic possession" or explicating the extremes of ordinary behavior such as love, anger, or jealousy, Dr. Robert Youngson astonishes, entertains, and informs readers about the extraordinary processes of the mind.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

According to Youngson, a little learning is a delightful thing, and its a point he demonstrates repeatedly in this engaging and opinionated compendium of essays on the amazing peculiarities of the human mind. Youngson, a former department head in the British Army Medical Service, aims to provoke as well as to entertain and enlighten. Among those sure to be offended are believers in homeopathy (his example of mass delusional insanity); British psychiatrists, whose tidying-up function he equates more with that of the police and the judiciary than that of the medical profession; the Roman Catholic Church, which he criticizes for giving respectability to a superstitious belief, i.e., demonic possession; and Freudians, for his description of Freud as not in any sense a scientist, but a creative literary man and psychoanalysis as a pseudoscience. These erudite essays, which are filled with literary and historical examples and personal observations, are mostly quite short and neednt be read in any particular order, which makes this work perfect for casual browsing. There are nearly 60 essays, and the range of topics is enormousnymphomania, dj... vu, phantom pregnancy, brainwashing, Ganser syndrome (simulated madness, ... la Hamlet), hypnotic states, amnesia, autism, hypochondria, idiot savants, belief in alien abductions, multiple personalitiesplus a series of pieces on the minds of criminals, mathematicians, musicians, writers, and the aging. Appropriately enough, the final one is on the dying mind, which introduces the question of near-death experiences. Throughout, skeptic Youngson is a skilled debunker and a greater detector of irrationality, but he acknowledges that for most people, there is simply too much science around and not enough mystery. Psychology 101 was never such great fun. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: Carroll and Graf Publishers (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786706244
• ISBN-13: 978-0786706242
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,734,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Things you could never imagine to know., May 3, 2000

By 

Ed (Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Madness of Prince Hamlet and Other Extraordinary States of Mind (Paperback)

Every now and then you here people talk about someone famous who got some kind of known syndrome, like maybe Schizophrenia or a phobia. In this unique book you can find some of the most entertaining, depressive, anomalous and unbelievable syndromes and states of mind ever known to man. Some syndromes may be just a dellusion or, some other are real and are ready to sneak up on you just when you think you are safe from any type of disease or syndrome. This book is really entertaining and is good for all ages starting from 14 years of age. READ IT!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rich source of factual information!, May 2, 2000

By 

Tak (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Madness of Prince Hamlet and Other Extraordinary States of Mind (Paperback)

The author tells his readers that a shallow grasp of knowledge is always a pleasant experience. I agree. This book gives all the amazing, and oustandingly deviant facts about many aspects of abnormal psychology. This book not only gives information on different disorders (or extraordinary states of mind, as the author calls them), but such intriguing issues as mathematical mind, Freudian psychology and demonic possession.

Although this is a good "factual" text, what I found lacking was the humanistic approach to this topic. Issues such as how patients and their families deal with their problems and how society views these issues were not mentioned in the text. As I think this is a significant aspect of abnormal psychology, this book missed out a lot on that. Also, there are some parts in the book where the author writes about "his" way of thinking about things. He warns about this in his introduction, and as this is not a textbook, giving opinions can be justified. By reading the author's view on certain things, readers would be able to think and choose to either agree or disagree with his views. After all, this is an excellent book to exercise and enjoy your interest-driven minds with.

4.0 out of 5 stars It's fun, but a little nuts at times, November 24, 2011

By 

atibamanii (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Madness of Prince Hamlet (Paperback)

I decided to read this book because of the review of it by a prolific Goodreads reviewer that I follow. I have to admit that it surprised me. I was expecting something like Sach's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, containing personal stories about people who experience "extraordinary states of mind." Although there are some personal stories scattered about, a large portion of the text is composed of probable explanations for the reasons someone may be experiencing these "extraordinary" states.

Notice above that I said probable explanations; this is due to the fact that Dr. Youngman (He is an M.D. I looked him up.) tends to just throw in statements that apparently are to be accepted as fact. For example, if you tell me that, "Recent polls have indicated that about half of the population of the United States and Canada reject the scientific account of evolution and accept the biblical story of creation," you better give me a citation. U.S.... now with the influence of the Tea Party...yeah maybe, but Canada? Come on! It's statements like this that prompted me to do what I know that you should always do first, go back and read the Preface. Yep, there it is, right there first sentence, "The purpose of this book is to entertain and amuse--and perhaps stimulate and surprise--those who share my particular, slightly cynical view of the world..." Oh, OK, now I got it. Yes, and the good doctor is British after all.

A lot of the states of mind I'm not certain that I would even consider "states of mind," like the mind of a talented musician or gifted mathematician. Perhaps I just expected, due to the title, that all would be associated with some type of madness. Having said that, a lot of the chapters are about a state of mind that most of us cannot fathom--pedophilia, autism, hypochondriasis and Munchausen syndrome, multiple personality disorder, etc. I'm just not certain that I can agree with suggestions like the one that implies that schizophrenia may be a state of mind chosen by the "sufferer" to make her life more bearable? Hey, from the schizophrenics that I know, that must have been a really crappy previous life!

One of the most surprising chapters for me was "The celebrated Hahnemann delusion: homeopathy," because I immediately recognized the name Hahnemann as the respected teaching hospital of my alma mater, Drexel University here in Philadelphia. Great, research, I love research. It seems that Drexel's Hahnemann Hospital, established in 1885 forty-two years after Samuel Hahnemann's death, was actually named after this guy. In a search on Hahnemann's Web page for "homeopathy" you get "The key concepts of homeopathy are not consistent with the current understanding of science, particularly chemistry and physics." Hmmm... Denying their namesake, interesting...

The chapter on transsexuals is interesting although I think I might wonder exactly who these "experts" are that consider "the way the child is treated during the early months and years of life..." the principal cause of a person being a transsexual. I was also surprised to hear that "...millions of people have devoted a substantial proportion of their time (and money) to the psychoanalytic process, mostly with no discernible effect," and which the doctor considers a bunch of bunk. My ex-husband would love this guy!

As you can tell by my 4-star rating I enjoyed reading this book. It lives up, or down whichever, to the first sentence in the Preface, which is more than I can say for most books.