Encyclopedia Neurotica

We live in an Age of Anxiety. The events of modern life have overwhelmed the average homo sapiens until getting from Point A to Point B without being overcome by neuroses is a practical impossibility. Enter: the comic safety valve. Encyclopedia Neuroticais a delightful garden of the ills that beset modern man. Entries include excerpts from both popular and arcane published works, as well as original definitions, essential terms and the occasional cutting-edge concept, such as "celebriphilia, the pathological desire to sleep with a celebrity, suffered chiefly by groupies." Some samples from Encyclopedia Neurotica: --Abyss, the: the yawning unfathomable chasm of existential terror --Acquired Situational Narcissism: a condition characterized by gradiosity, lack of empathy, rage, isolation and substance abuse; mainly afflicts celebrities, who tend to be surrounded by enablers --Denial: unconscious defense mechanism that numbs anxiety by refusing to acknoweledge unpleasant realities --Manic Run: prolonged state of optimism, excitement and hyperactivity experienced as part of bipolar disorder

Jon Winokur is the author of various reference books and anthologies, including The Portable Curmudgeon, The Rich Are Different, Ennui to Go, and The War Between the State. He lives in Pacific Palisades, California.

Our modern Age of Anxiety threatens to overwhelm us all with angst, ambivalence, and dread. Most of us manage to cope, but not without displaying some pretty bizarre behavior. Enter Encyclopedia Neurotica, an irreverent A to Z guide to the tics, twitches, and safety-valve nuttiness of modern life.
 
Learn about such fascinating foibles as retail therapy, “shopping as a means of comfort, relaxation, or mood elevation,� or cell yell, “loud talking on cell phones in public places by people with a neurotic need to invade their own privacy.� Find out whether you suffer from cyberchondria, “hypochondria resulting from seeing one's symptoms on a medical Web site,� or pronoia, “the irrational belief that people like you.�
 
From a master of witty compilations, this wry catalog of mishegoss, containing hundreds of illustrative quotations from the famous and the wise, may convince you to lie back and enjoy your neuroses. Or congratulate yourself on not being quite as neurotic as the next guy.