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The Quantity Theory of Insanity (Paperback)

by Will Self (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (10 Jun 1994)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140234012
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140234015
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 191,159 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #21 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > S > Self, Will

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Product Description

Product Description

A collection of short stories by the author of the novellas "Cock and Bull" and the novel "My Idea of Fun". The book won the 1993 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize.

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!, 27 May 2002
By Bruno Espadana (Lisbon, Portugal) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I found references to this book one day while browsing through amazon.co.uk. I found it interesting enough to give it a go. When I started reading it I couldn't put it down and now I must say it is one of my favourite books!
Will Self assembled a collection of short stories, all about insanity in one form or the other.
Taken individually, there are here some very well-written stories, from the dark and weird "Ward 9" to the pseudo-cientific and very funny "Quantity Theory of Insanity" or the last end-of-century-philosophy of "Waiting".
But it's when you take the book as a whole that it truly surprises you. I read the opening story and I thought that it was funny, but it seemed more of a prelude than a part of the book, especially when I finished reading the second story, which had a totally different mood. It was only on the third or fourth story that I realised that there was a reference to one of the previous ones. And by the end of the book, even the prelude made sense after all.
Will Self tied all of his stories together, so this doesn't feel like just a collection of stories, if feels like we are looking at another universe, his universe, a cohese and rational universe. Which makes it really thought-provoking - the events are funny, but so real that make you think: are we really like this?
And that's the whole point, I suppose.

A great great book, don't miss it!

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Self's best work, 1 Dec 2001
Hilarious, particularly to those with some experience of mental illness & its care - & I must applaud Self's groundbreaking invention of the 'triple-blind trial'.
Intellectually stimulating, and full of Self's characterstic wit.
To the reviewer who said "so what?",I don't think there is meant to be a simple unifying message in this book. What you get instead is a series of semi-linked scenarios, each bursting with ingenious observations & thought experiments.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Confusion, 10 Oct 2001
After reading this I found it difficult to work out if Self had entered my mind and shaken it all about or if I had entered his and lost mine somewhere within the process.In a similar way that Burroughs expertly projected his subject matter in Naked Lunch, Self takes us on an hilarious, nerve-wracking and exhausting journey through his mind and the minds of his characters, which ultimately leads to your head imploding around about the same time as it explodes. I have never laughed or cried so much at one sitting, nor have my ears bled for so long.Exquisite.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to tie you in knots
I'd only seen Will Self on the t.v before (have I got news for you) and I was a fan of he's dry sense of humour. Read more
Published on 15 May 2005 by mynamesstevewhite

5.0 out of 5 stars Who needs drugs.
The eponymous short in this collection is more brilliant than anything else Self has written since and is more than sufficient to recommend the book as a whole, (although... Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2004 by firbolg

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth a portion of your disposable income.
In this impressively conceived literary debut, Self has swamped the reader in his very own tipsy, punch-drunk, surrealist world. Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2003 by RE TRANTER

5.0 out of 5 stars removed from the traditional.
The book in question, "The quantity theory of insanity" is an excellent example of modern literature, the likes of which would never have been recognised if it had not been for... Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2003 by Johnny sideways

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic read
Self's best work - it will drive you crazy like his characters and leave you emotionally charged and drained at the same time. Inspiring.
Published on 11 Oct 2001

3.0 out of 5 stars "Clever but unsatisfying" two
Those were exactly the words I was going to use - clever but unsatisfying sums up my feeling about the book. Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Will Self's best
Will Self uses his writing style expertly in this collection of partly interlinked stories. His ability to generate a believable situation from eccentric ideas works very well... Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2000

3.0 out of 5 stars Clever but unsatisfying
Having come to this collection after reading "Tough Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys" I was disappointed. Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars The only consistently brilliant book Self has written
An excellent collection of satirical pieces. I usually find myself frustrated by Self, with his inability to develop plots to match his intellect.

But this is superb. Read more

Published on 17 Dec 1999

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