Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Hearing Voices and the Borders of Sanity

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Penguin, 2007 M03 22 - 272 pages
An inquiry into hearing voices-one of humanity's most profound phenomena

Auditory hallucination is one of the most awe-inspiring, terrifying, and ill- understood tricks of which the human psyche is capable. In the age of modern medical science, we have relegated this experience to nothing more than a biological glitch. Yet as Daniel B. Smith puts forth in Muses, Madmen, and Prophets, some of the greatest thinkers, leaders, and prophets in history heard, listened to, and had dialogues with voices inside their heads. In a fascinating quest for understanding, Smith examines the history of this powerful phenomenon, and delivers a ringing defense of the validity of unusual human experiences.

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Contents

PRELUDE
1
THE HOUSE OF MIRRORS
15
NOBLE AUTOMATONS
33
FLOATING
129
PERSONAL DEITY
141
IO DIGNA
165
MORBID OFFSPRING
193
POSTLUDE
213
Notes
219
INTERLUDE
221
Bibliography
231
THE SOFTSроKEN
237
Copyright

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About the author (2007)

Daniel B. Smith is a New York–based journalist and author. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, Granta, and n+1.

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