Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness

An interesting and quick read about what makes an eccentric and how he differs from others. The study this book is based on took place in Britain and the US. The authors include a number of anecdotes about both living examples of eccentricity and historical figures who were eccentric. Probably not worth a reread but entertaining the first time.

Eccentrics is an enjoyable work, filled with amusing anecdotes of dozens of eccentrics. The book's flaw is in its science. As the authors readily admit, there hasn't been much of any study into eccentricity, so they made much of it up on the fly. While there were a few interesting findings, the majority of the non-anecdotal writing is quite humdrum.

The historical review is probably one of the more interesting parts. The study seemed to have such a broad view of eccentrics it was hard to draw any conclusions. The scientific parts are sometimes interesting but many times a bit pointless. Some very good writing in here and I suspect it comes from the co-author Jamie James. The whole theory of a social mutation, that is the eccentric is society's way of experimenting with norms is a fascinating little tidbits. Indeed, one of many tidbits that makes one wishes there had been more.