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Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Hearing Voices and the Borders of Sanity
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Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Hearing Voices and the Borders of Sanity Paperback - 2008

by Daniel B. Smith

Smith presents the strange history of auditory hallucination and reevaluates the popular conception of the phenomenon today and through the ages. He reveals the roots of the medical understanding and treatment of it along with its relationship to the nature of pure faith.


Summary

An inquiry into hearing voices-one of humanity's most profound phenomena

Auditory hallucination is one of the most awe-inspiring, terrifying, and ill- understood tricks of which the human psyche is capable. In the age of modern medical science, we have relegated this experience to nothing more than a biological glitch. Yet as Daniel B. Smith puts forth in Muses, Madmen, and Prophets, some of the greatest thinkers, leaders, and prophets in history heard, listened to, and had dialogues with voices inside their heads. In a fascinating quest for understanding, Smith examines the history of this powerful phenomenon, and delivers a ringing defense of the validity of unusual human experiences.

From the publisher

An inquiry into hearing voices-one of humanity's most profound phenomena Auditory hallucination is one of the most awe-inspiring, terrifying, and ill- understood tricks of which the human psyche is capable. In the age of modern medical science, we have relegated this experience to nothing more than a biological glitch. Yet as Daniel B. Smith puts forth in Muses, Madmen, and Prophets, some of the greatest thinkers, leaders, and prophets in history heard, listened to, and had dialogues with voices inside their heads. In a fascinating quest for understanding, Smith examines the history of this powerful phenomenon, and delivers a ringing defense of the validity of unusual human experiences.

Details

  • Title Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Hearing Voices and the Borders of Sanity
  • Author Daniel B. Smith
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 272
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Books, New York
  • Date February 26, 2008
  • ISBN 9780143113157 / 0143113151
  • Weight 0.54 lbs (0.24 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.38 x 5.56 x 0.62 in (21.29 x 14.12 x 1.57 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Library of Congress subjects Auditory hallucinations
  • Dewey Decimal Code 616.89

Media reviews

"Articulate, engaging, and deeply researched."
-Dr. Jerome Groopman, The Boston Globe

"Fascinating."
-Peter D. Kramer, The New York Times Book Review

"An eloquent writer."
-San Francisco Chronicle

Citations

  • New York Times Book Review, 03/30/2008, Page 28

About the author

Daniel B. Smith is a New York-based journalist and author. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, Granta, and n+1.
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