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Geography of Madness: Penis Thieves, Voodoo Death, and the Search for the Meaning of the World's Strangest Syndromes
Geography of Madness: Penis Thieves, Voodoo Death, and the Search for the Meaning of the World's Strangest Syndromes | Frank Bures
7 posts | 11 read | 25 to read
Why do some men become convinced--despite what doctors tell them--that their penises have, simply, disappeared. Why do people across the world become convinced that they are cursed to die on a particular date--and then do? Why do people in Malaysia suddenly "run amok"? In The Geography of Madness, acclaimed magazine writer Frank Bures investigates these and other "culture-bound" syndromes, tracing each seemingly baffling phenomenon to its source. It's a fascinating, and at times rollicking, adventure that takes the reader around the world and deep into the oddities of the human psyche. What Bures uncovers along the way is a poignant and stirring story of the persistence of belief, fear, and hope.
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sidherinn
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Keryntalia
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Mehso-so

Fascinating subject but the book didn't live up to its premise - too focused on one specific syndrome, which became boring & felt like a padded-out magazine article. Some interesting stuff also let down by author's need to create a spurious 'personal' connection.

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ChrisMeier
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Mehso-so

Some reviews compared Frank Bures to Jon Ronson, but I did not find this to be true. Sure they both skew towards unusual topics, but I find Robson a lot easier to read. At times this book felt a little like a very long magazine article, without an easy pace to make it enjoyable.

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amazingmavis
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Well this one looks funnnnn 😁

6 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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rebeccaschinsky

Started this last night and am so here for it. Investigative journalism meets sociology in a look at psychological problems that only show up in certain cultures. Fascinating so far.

ramyasbookshelf Ooh! Sounds interesting. 8y
Matilda This sounds like a college class I wish existed! 8y
rebeccaschinsky @Matilda it's like a sociology book I wished existed 8y
Rebeccak Here for this as a clinical social work student! 8y
29 likes15 stack adds4 comments
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balletbookworm
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Mehso-so

Ehh. Rather than a collective look at many different syndromic illnesses or mental illnesses that are "culture bound", Bures focuses primarily on koro (shrinking genitals) intermixed with his musings on his own development as a writer. Not as "science-y" as I had hoped it would be.

balletbookworm For a much better in-depth look at one non-Western cultural disease tradition vs American medicine, read Anne Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. 8y
3 likes1 comment
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balletbookworm
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Pointing out whether all the brown/not US people speak good-quality English is getting super old in this book. If you mention a translator, I'll assume that you couldn't converse comfortably in a shared language; if you don't mention a translator, I'll assume you could. 😒