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Selfie

How We Became So Self Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us

Will Storr

$16.99

Paperback

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English
Picador
27 June 2017
A compelling new work about the mysterious power of the self and the danger of our modern obsession with it

"In this riveting account of how our culture has defined who we feel we should be, from Aristotle to Ayn Rand, Storr charts the rise of our age of perfectionism, and our resulting addictions to selfies and social media. It's profoundly eye-opening, and not a little chastening." Bookseller

We live in the age of the individual.

We are supposed to be slim, prosperous, happy, extroverted and popular. This is our culture's image of the perfect self. We see this person everywhere: in advertising, in the press, all over social media. We're told that to be this person you just have to follow your dreams, that our potential is limitless, that we are the source of our own success.

But this model of the perfect self can be extremely dangerous. People are suffering under the torture of this impossible fantasy. Unprecedented social pressure is leading to increases in depression and suicide. Where does this ideal come from? Why is it so powerful? Is there any way to break its spell?

To answer these questions, Selfie takes us from the shores of Ancient Greece, through the Christian Middle Ages, to the self-esteem evangelists of 1980s California, the rise of narcissism and the selfie generation, and right up to the era of hyper-individualistic neoliberalism in which we live now.

It tells the extraordinary story of the person we all know so intimately - ourselves.

By:  
Imprint:   Picador
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 233mm,  Width: 155mm,  Spine: 31mm
Weight:   568g
ISBN:   9781509874736
ISBN 10:   1509874739
Publication Date:  
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  ELT Advanced ,  Primary
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Section - i: A note on the text Chapter - Book Zero: The Dying Self Chapter - Book One: The Tribal Self Chapter - Book Two: The Perfectible Self Chapter - Book Three: The Bad Self Chapter - Book Four: The Good Self Chapter - Book Five: The Special Self Chapter - Book 6: The Digital Self Chapter - Book Seven: How To Stay Alive in the Age of Perfectionism Acknowledgements - ii: Acknowledgements Section - iii: A note on my methods Section - iv: Notes and references Index - v: Index

Reviews for Selfie: How We Became So Self Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us

I've come to consider Will Storr the best writer out there in terms of writing about human experience and the concepts and complexities of psychology. I've never seen such a well-thought-through and well-argued piece of work as Selfie, really taking ideas around self-esteem back to their philosophical and historical origins - and pulling them all to pieces. I loved it. -- Professor Sophie Scott, Deputy Director, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London Will Storr is a versatile, imaginative, committed long-form journalist with a populist touch . . . a talented, ambitious writer. * Independent * Storr can open chapters like a stage conjurer, and his prose has an easy, laconic style embracing Jon Ronson's taste for the fabulously weird and Louis Theroux's ability to put his subjects at ease. He is a funny and companionable guide * Guardian * In this riveting account of how our culture has defined who we feel we should be, from Aristotle to Ayn Rand, Storr charts the rise of our age of perfectionism, and our resulting addictions to selfies and social media. It's profoundly eye-opening, and not a little chastening. Arresting mirrored jacket too . . . * Bookseller * Eminently suitable for readers of both Yuval Noah Harari and Daniel Kahneman, Selfie also has shades of Jon Ronson in its subversive humour and investigative spirit . . . Selfie, without being remotely fluffy, just might be the ultimate in post-truth comfort reading -- Caroline Sanderson * Bookseller * A very well written book. I enjoyed it greatly! -- Professor Danny Dorling, author of <i>A Better Politics: How Government Can Make Us Happier</i>


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