Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us
"An intriguing odyssey" though the history of the self and the rise of narcissism (The New York Times).
Self-absorption, perfectionism, personal branding--it wasn't always like this, but it's always been a part of us. Why is the urge to look at ourselves so powerful? Is there any way to break its spell--especially since it doesn't necessarily make us better or happier people? Full of unexpected connections among history, psychology, economics, neuroscience, and more, Selfie is a "terrific" book that makes sense of who we have become (NPR's On Point).
Award-winning journalist Will Storr takes us from ancient Greece, through the Christian Middle Ages, to the self-esteem evangelists of 1980s California, the rise of the "selfie generation," and the era of hyper-individualism in which we live now, telling the epic tale of the person we all know so intimately--because it's us.
"It's easy to look at Instagram and selfie-sticks and shake our heads at millennial narcissism. But Will Storr takes a longer view. He ignores the easy targets and instead tells the amazing 2,500-year story of how we've come to think about our selves. A top-notch journalist, historian, essayist, and sleuth, Storr has written an essential book for understanding, and coping with, the 21st century." --Nathan Hill, New York Times-bestselling author of The Nix
"This fascinating psychological and social history . . . reveals how biology and culture conspire to keep us striving for perfection, and the devastating toll that can take."--The Washington Post
"Ably synthesizes centuries of attitudes and beliefs about selfhood, from Aristotle, John Calvin, and Freud to Sartre, Ayn Rand, and Steve Jobs." --USA Today
"Eminently suitable for readers of both Yuval Noah Harari and Daniel Kahneman, Selfie also has shades of Jon Ronson in its subversive humor and investigative spirit." --Bookseller
"Storr is an electrifying analyst of Internet culture." --Financial Times
"Continually delivers rich insights . . . captivating." --Kirkus Reviews
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Storr continually delivers rich insights, historically grounded conclusions, and more contemporary deliberations on his subject's relevance to the Trump campaign and how to stay hopeful living in a me-first world. Captivating, self-reflective research on our culture of rampant egocentricity.
An ambitious argument . . . Storr is an electrifying analyst of Internet culture.
An entertaining history of the self, from Narcissus to Trump.
Thoughtful and engaging . . . Storr's cultural history is fascinating.
A timely, inspiring book about self-obsession in modern life.
Brilliant.
Storr has done huge amounts of research for this book . . . he conveys it with a gifted lightness of touch.
This entertaining investigation is essentially a social history of the self, from earliest times (when we worked to increase our status within the tribe) to our current vainglorious self (hungry for likes and approbation on social media). Each of the seven chapters examines an aspect of self; for each of them, Storr, a lively, affable guide, introduces us to an exemplar, some familiar (Confucius, Ayn Rand, Donald Trump) and many more who are not. The final chapter offers Storr's counsel on "How to Stay Alive in the Age of Perfectionism." Step 1: try to set aside the current tribal propaganda and embrace your flawed and often unlikeable self.
British journalist and novelist Storr takes on the ambitious subject of how people think of themselves. . . . The latest from the adroit, widely respected Storr.
Captivating, self-reflective research on our culture of rampant egocentricity.
In this fascinating psychological and social history, Storr reveals how biology and culture conspire to keep us striving for perfection, and the devastating toll that can take.
An intriguing odyssey of self-discovery.
[A] free ranging account of the modern, ego-driven Western self. . . . A corrective, and a much-needed one, to a moment fixated on its own particularity.
