Customer Reviews

The Quantity Theory of Insanity

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I found this book by chance while browsing in a bookshop, and I was very pleased with my selection. I recommend the book for its originality and humour. Self attempts to explore absurb ideas in a realistic manner, which results in some very funny passages. The title story is exceptional, and very memorable.

However, while it contains very interesting content, the style is not strikingly original. Furthermore, I cannot advise that the book as a whole is excellent, because although many of the ideas contained within are unusual, I found that I was sometimes raising an eyebrow in confusion, rather than delight.

If you are interested in bizarre ideas, I would recommend this book for the main story (ie. "The Quantity Theory..."), and the opening tale. While the others are interesting, they are not as memorable.

Sit down and write a clever, although overdone, Twilight Zone-esque short story. Great. Now you have to write a dozen or more short stories to fulfill the contract with your publisher. Oh, the pressure! Just whip out the heavy drugs and let them do the writing for you. This appears to be the strategy that Will Self took in this understandably out of print volume.
It is the rare book that I don't finish once I start it. But the stories just kept getting more incoherent, and I had to put it down. The author just got obsessed with the idea that the only difference between the sane and the insane is that insane people do more crazy things than the sane ones do, and couldn't let it go.
If you are looking for a quirky collection of modern short stories, go with The Acid House by Irvine Welsh and avoid The Quantity Theory of Insanity for the sake of your own sanity.