Do Not Read If You Like Medical Information to Be Serious

Like this author’s book on mental disorders, this is a quirky combination of actual facts about unusual medical maladies with some very off-beat humor. If you prefer your information about anything to do with medicine to be serious, you’d be better off skipping this book. But if you don’t mind a little humor with your knowledge intake, this is a surprisingly—if not somewhat scary—read. Most of the humor is in the diagnosis section of each malady, and of course, the cartoon pictures to go along with the diseases and syndromes are meant to be humorous. Although, I actually found some of them to be a little on the scary side! I am a registered nurse, and some information provided is actually spot-on accurate, which is surprising in a humorous book. The author has clearly researched all of these well, enough to both share accurate information and to lampoon the subject matter. The introduction states that this is a new edition; he has updated some straight-up information and played around with some humorous parts. If you don’t mind a book that doesn’t take medical problems too seriously, you might find yourself both amused and educated if you choose to read this book.

NOTE: From what I saw on Amazon, it appears as though the first edition is listed there, not this second. The cartoons are definitely different in the first edition; they appear to be historical art rather than modern-drawn cartoons as are in the edition I received.

Somewhat Irreverent Guide to Offbeat and Typical Mental Disorders

As the title might suggest, this book is meant to be a lighthearted guide to some typical and rare mental disorders. I know; that seems like a strange concept. The author does address this in the introduction, where he states that he knows that mental disorders are a serious subject. He has written some other somewhat humorous books on difficult topics, like diseases and deviant behavior. When you actually start to read about the various syndromes within the book, over half of each disorder is actually quite serious. The causality and the treatment sections actually seem like solidly researched information about the actual disorder. It’s only in the first parts of the section—namely the quiz, inner monologue, and diagnosis sections—that humor seems to reign. I actually found this combination of slightly silly parts and on-point parts along with sometimes rather bizarre cartoons to make for a fascinating read. I am an RN and have some experience dealing with mental disorders, so that may be why I found this to be a book I couldn’t stop flipping through.

Odd Little Book!

I am a voracious reader, so I don’t need a book simulator to make it look like I’m reading. Because I am actually usually… reading. The first part of the blurb made me almost give a pass to this book, but a line in the second part made me decide to give it a try. “While it pokes fun at various aspects of reading, it also celebrates the spirit of storytelling and encourages the exploration of future stories to come.” As someone who loves to read, I thought I would see how this book would celebrate storytelling with humor. The book is definitely tongue-in-cheek and makes attempts at humor, but for me, these fell flat. I didn’t really see any evidence about how this book celebrated anything, whether reading or storytelling. The book is certainly quirky and unusual, but it didn’t quite do it for me.