The Incurable Romantic

And Other Tales of Madness and Desire

De: Frank Tallis

Narrado por: Simon Shepherd

A psychologist explores the intersection of love and madness through the riveting stories of the patients he has treated

In The Incurable Romantic, Frank Tallis recounts the extraordinary stories of patients who are, quite literally, madly in love: a woman becomes utterly convinced that her dentist is secretly infatuated with her and drives him to leave the country; a man destroys his massive fortune through trysts with over three thousand prostitutes -- because his ego requires that they fall in love with him; a beautiful woman's pathological jealousy destroys the men who love her. Along the way, we learn a great deal about the history of psychiatry and the role of neuroscience in addressing disordered love. Elegantly written and infused with deep sympathy, The Incurable Romantic shows how all of us can become a bit crazy in love.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Gripping...One of the points Tallis is making is that when we fall in love, we flirt with madness."—Nick Hornby, The Believer

"People driven mad by love is the stuff of operas. But Tallis, a clinical psychologist, takes a serious look at the neuroscience of the phenomenon, focusing on sensational case studies--like the man who kept 3,000 prostitutes in his employ, spending all his money in the hopes that they would fall in love with him."—New York Times

"Stories about those who arrive on a therapist's couch to complain about their love woes may appeal to our instincts for voyeurism, but Mr. Tallis never veers into prurience. Instead, he artfully heightens the ways these patients should feel familiar, as we all know a little something of love's madness."—Wall Street Journal

"Tallis gives readers a peek inside the therapist's office and a sense of how otherwise reasonable people can go crazy over love.... Even if we no longer recognize love as a disorder, we cannot deny its power to destabilize and distort."—Washington Post

"Thrilling, sometimes desperate, shockingly dark."—New York Journal of Books

"Part memoir, part scientific exploration, [The Incurable Romantic] chronicles more than a dozen tales of love gone horribly wrong."—New York Post

"Mr. Tallis is a gifted storyteller....In The Incurable Romantic he applies a novelist's skill to his clinical material....[His] characters remain sharply, painfully real, their stories as inconclusive, messy and fascinating as life."—Economist

"The Incurable Romantic earns its place in the fine tradition of popular psychoanalytic writing, exemplified by Irvin D. Yalom's excellent book of case studies, Love's Executioner....[Tallis] is an amiable and acute guide to the madness of love."—Times (London)

"[Tallis] knows how to tell a story. Boy, does he know how to tell a story. This powerful and moving book is not just about individual cases. It's also about what the human animal needs....Powerful and moving."—Sunday Times (London)

"[Tallis is] a brilliant raconteur....Only someone who has never felt sick falling head over heels, suffered the agonizing pangs of jealousy, battled bestial fogs of lust or wallowed in the delirious happiness of being entwined with the object of their love could fail to be fascinated."—Evening Standard (London)

"Thoughtful...Tallis has a graceful narrative style, easily incorporating brief digressions on deeper philosophical issues such as free will versus determinism. Most importantly, his book is suffused with compassion, avoiding facile categorization and struggling to understand and empathize with his patients as people in pain."—Publishers Weekly

"Moving, at times disturbing, and revealing-like having a productive, revelatory discussion with a trusted friend."—Kirkus Reviews

Great!

A collection of a psychoanalyst’s experience of what love and desire look like in a psychiatric setting.

I read quite a bit of psychology of interpersonal relationship books, and this is by far the most interesting (and least theoretical) one. It talks about love in the abnormal sense, and I like how the extreme presentations of longing are carefully illustrated here without judgment.

A must-read for aspiring psychologists who’ve read works on attachment styles, jealousy, abuse, obsession, etc. Because much of the issues we deal with in Psychology are related to desire and longing, but oftentimes academia refuse to go into details with these subjects.

Beautifully written and narrated- a truly humbling book.

Brilliant And Fascinating

This isn't in my typical sphere of interest but it caught my eye in my Xmas shopping spree and thus landed in my library anyway. It's a superbly told fly-on-the-wall perspective view of a psychiatrist's couch when love makes people go mad. I learned an enormous amount about various peculiar disorders, I laughed a bit and found myself scared stiff when the author confronted a would-be mass murderer. If you think you might enjoy this - I can pretty much guarantee that you will enjoy it. Absolutely fantastic book and one I shall return to again at a later date.