What makes Kate Summerscale’s account of these phobias and manias so especially enjoyable, is her use of the objective personal and plural pronouns “us” and ”we” in describing them. In her introduction, she even admits: “When I began researching this book, I did not think of myself as having any particular phobias — apart, perhaps, from my teenage dread of blushing and an enduring anxiety about flying — but by the time I’d finished I’d talked myself into almost every one.”
The implication that we are all, in some way, plagued by fears and desires beyond our control, ensures that this reads as a curious and well-informed catalogue of some of humanity’s bizarre, worrying yet often relatable irrationalities, rather than — as some of these books can turn out to be — a sensationalist freak show. Apparently, 7.2 per cent of us are “likely to experience a phobia in our lives”, and women are “twice as phobic as men”. Yet Summerscale makes clear that phobias and manias are largely cultural; hence, the title’s claim of offering “a history of the world”.
Everyone will take something (revealingly) different from this book. I was intrigued by terms such as “nomophobia”, a fear of being without a mobile phone, which no doubt relates to my “telephonophobia”, also suffered by Kafka, who thought the phone “almost supernatural in its capacity to sever voices from bodies”. Also uncomfortably familiar was “misophobia”, a hatred of sounds such as slurping, munching or the rustle of crisp packets.
Ultimately, unless you have a particular interest in phobias and manias (”phobomaniomania”, perhaps?), this is still, for the majority, a Christmas gift book. It’s been timed and packaged as such and is, by its nature, something to dip into, rather than to read in full. Having said that, I did read it in full, and enjoyed (or flinched at) each and every entry, all of which were fascinating, beautifully written and thoroughly researched. So, if you need to get something for Uncle Frank or Sheila from work, this ought to be your choice. If, on the other hand, you really are sufficiently interested in fears, manias and the subconscious, alongside — my favourite touch — a little hint of etymology, then this would be a suitably edifying, if unnerving, addition to your shelves.
